


Destined

by ManuHerz79



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Angst, Chloe KNOWS, Deckerstar - Freeform, F/M, God had a plan, Humor, Hurt, Kidnapping, Mild Smut, Post-Season/Series 02, Siblings, they try
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-01-16 15:34:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 52,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18524431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ManuHerz79/pseuds/ManuHerz79
Summary: After creating a new universe for 'Mum', Lucifer revealed the truth to his Detective.They shared a moment and decided to start a relationship - tough times and a lot to deal with, for both of them.Friends try to help. An angel shows up. Things get out of hand.... and almost everything is destined.





	1. Alteration

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
> This is another translated story of mine.  
> I admit, it's an old one, so please don't bother, but it is a post season 2 fic.  
> There is no Marcus Pierce in it, I apologize.  
> Acutal, it is the third part of a whole storyline, but it can stand alone as well and honestly, I don't know if I will ever translate the other two parts and post it here.  
> There will be updates, but I am still translating and I am not really very fast with it.  
> Again, THANK YOU to Kay_Kay for her beta work, her adivces and her incredible kindness, this woman is truely awesome!  
> Thank you, Lucifans, for reading! I hope you like and enjoy it.

 

 

 

Strength. Firmness. Composure.

Usually, these qualities were part of his very nature, they precisely summed up everything that he was. What he has always been. Since the beginning of time and before, when time had been something that hadn’t mattered. Everyone looked up to him, admired him. He was born to be a leader amongst the others. A luminous figure designed of light - one of the noblest of his kind. He was loyal, he was pure.

Guardian of the divine regime, guardian of the heavenly gate. Judge, savior. There was an endless list of all the assignments and duties which belonged to him and him alone. There was no task he could not cope with easily. He always remained prudent while executing every command, which had been directly ordered to him. Without ever questioning any of it. Ah – he was _the_ archetype. 

Well… honestly… he had been. ‘Til now.

It was so terrible annoying. For a while now, he has struggled with a heavy inner turmoil, very much to his displeasure. He was totally out of balance, tense, nervous. His composure had been literally shaken to the core.  It was an unbearable state he was in, unbearable for an archangel.

Lost in his thoughts, he stopped his brooding walk and sat down on a white, marble bench standing at the shore of a small pond. Pretty flowers bloomed all over the embankment that led down to the turquoise colored water. They looked like tiny purple stars and grew only in this grove near the gates of the silver city. He took a deep, calming breath, inhaling their odorant smell. The branches of a giant willow, standing nearby, swayed slightly in a faint breeze. It was delightful quiet. Peaceful. Nothing disturbed his busy mind and yet... 

He noticed a tingling sensation in his neck. Pins and needles.

"Come on," he said grumpily, “show yourself.”

 Only an arm’s length away his sister materialized out of thin air and he rolled his eyes. Deliberately, he didn’t look up to her and kicked a small pebble with his foot toward the water instead.

 "Michael," her soft voice sounded a bit reproachful, "you had an appointment."

She put her wings away and settled down beside him on the bench. He gave her a quick glance, before he looked out over the water again. Her bright white dress seemed to glow softly and her long, reddish-brown hair reflected the warm light of the universe. She wore it open today and the light breeze that billowed around the pond played with some of her fine, curly locks.

"Right," he said. “I had one, I know… but I… didn’t want to. I have other things to bear with, actually.”

She put a flat hand on his tense back. "Please, tell me next time _before_ I have to come up with an excuse. There were hundreds of expectant listeners who eagerly awaited the next lesson, tutored by their beloved leader. Michael, they are warriors… do you even know… I mean… I had to put them off and it was, well... let’s say, unpleasant."

Slowly, she took her hand away and folded her long fingers in her lap. "I'm not that eloquent or funny like you or Sam. You both got all the silver tongues and jocularity in the family."

Michael winced at the mention of his brother’s name.

She frowned. "Do you think of him again?" Her bright green eyes bored interrogatively into his dark brown ones as he looked at her in surprise.

"Honestly, brother. Do you still think that I cannot read you like a book? You should watch your grimace in a mirror." He raised an eyebrow and her lips twisted into a cynical grin.

"Conflicts are _my_ realm, you know that. Whether you have one with someone else or with yourself." She placed two fingers behind her ear and leaned toward him. "Oh, what are you saying? I shall help you?" Grinning, she waved her hand. "So, go on and talk - I'm listening."

Again, he rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Raphi..." he growled annoyed, but she interrupted him impatiently.

"Michael," she imitated his tone and pierced her forefinger in his upper arm. “So, come on now. I won’t make another excuse for you and embarrass myself again in front of hundreds our siblings. The sooner you tell me about what bothers you so much, the sooner I can help you and I will never have to play your back-up archangel again. Out with it."

Beaten, he raised his hands. "Fine," he sighed. "I… I can’t stop thinking about it, Raphi. Why does he have his wings back? Why? And for Heaven’s sake… how? He cut them off, what a sacrilege! Then, suddenly - puff - he gets them back again? Was it some kind of reward for creating a parallel universe for Mum instead of taking her back to Hell, from where she had _escaped_? Worst of all, he stubbornly refuses to go back to Hell _himself_ and I thought... I really thought he had to stay there forever - it was an _order,_ his punishment. I had to cast him out of here and now… Father only watches him doing whatever he likes? Gifted him with a new pair of wings?"

He shook his head. "I do not understand Father and I never understood Lucifer. When I pierced him with my sword and... " His sister inhaled a sharp breath and he stopped, looking at her.

Michael reached for her entwined hands. "I know how much it has always bothered you, Raphi and I also know that you do not want to hear the part in which I hurt and defeated him, but it _has_ happened. I only executed Father's orders." Abruptly, he stood up and started to pace around.

"Maybe Azrael could deliver some insight in all these occurrences down there, but I can’t ask her, she has not been in the Silver City for a while now. Amenadiel...“ he scoffed. “Amenadiel - proud firstborn and strongest amongst us - he has proven to be completely useless down there, his powers gone,” he bit out. “Uriel sent himself on a mission and never came back. Rumors say, he’s dead.” His shoulders slumped. “What’s going on, Raphi? Why do such dreadful things keep happening to our kind? Everything seems to be completely out of hand since Lucifer turned his back on Hell and started to stay amongst the humans. Once again, everything is his fault alone. He belongs to the fires of damnation and not on earth!" Anger radiated from his body like waves.

His sister looked at him icily. "You don’t know for sure if it's his fault alone, Michael. When it comes to him, you tend to see things blurred, not like they really are. Don’t judge him without further proof, Brother. You always underestimated him and you refuse to realize, that you are very much alike, Samael and you."

He spun around rapidly. "Stop calling him that! Samael doesn’t exist anymore! How dare you to say _I_ underestimated _him_? Never," he pointed a finger accusingly in her direction. "I've always known how dangerous and how rebellious his true nature is.  _I_ was the one who had to cope with his temper and his unbridled arrogance. It was _I_ who quarreled and fought with him, trying to dissuade him from his misguided ideas.  _You_ and all our other siblings have always looked away, you decided to pretend he was like us - one of us."

She remained calm and crossed her arms over her chest, the only sign that his words upset her more than she was willing to show him. "Most of your quarrels were incomprehensible to us and no one would have dared to come between you. Both of you had been the strongest of us and both of you had been totally unpredictable. One moment, you were fighting and in the next one you laughed and giggled together like maniacs. One moment your hated each other and in the next one you were all heart and soul again. Meddling could only have backfired, don’t you think so?" Reproachfully, she raised one of her well-defined eyebrows in the air.

He snorted and dropped back onto the white bench next to her.

"Do you really want him back in Hell, in that horrible place? Don’t you wish that he could be redeemed in the eyes of our Father and proof himself worthy again? That his wings may even already be a sign of this forgiveness? That he could finally come home again? To us?” Her bright eyes filled with tears. "Don’t you miss him?"

Michael patted her shoulder wordlessly. He loved his siblings. At least the ones he had not thrown down into Hell.  What if Lucifer would come back to them? He wasn’t sure if he wanted him to. They had always been like fire and ice, complete opposites. They polarized, no matter what Raphi and the others might believe. Lucifer rebelled against their Father. He obeyed him. How could that ever change?

"What is it, that you exactly miss, Raphi? Hm? His selfishness? His tendency to question and criticize, well… _everything_? His inability to accept things as they are and always were? Lucifer _rebelled_. He started a _war_. We fought against our own siblings!"

"Yes, he did and yes, it was terrible for all of us, Michael. But worst of all it was for himself. I was there too, on that dreadful day. I saw the look on his face. I saw the despair in his eyes."

Sighing, he put an arm around her shoulders. "You will always be on his side, right?"

"I am not on _his_ side. I am on no one’s side. I want to keep the balance, I never judge!” She raised her voice for the first time.

 "Yes, yes - all right, I know," he hurried to assure her.

 They sat side by side in silence. The water surface in front of them rippled slightly, leaves rustled gently in the wind.

 Michael cleared his throat. "I... I'll fly down and check, Raphi. Earth. Humans. I have to know what's going on - what's happening there and why. If it will be necessary, I will intervene."

 She nodded. Her eyes searched his. "I know that you think you have to do that. I also know that nobody will be able to stop you." She reached for his hand. "Remember, Michael, he was and will always be your brother."

He glared at her. "Yes, he was my brother and he was an archangel. But now he is the Devil. Whether Father forgives him or not, it doesn’t matter to me. Wherever he belongs, Raphi, I know he doesn’t belong among humans. "

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**************************************

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The horror.

The _absolute_ terror.

Hell on earth.

Lucifer swallowed hard. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. He slowly raised a very shaky hand, wiped this disgusting fluid away and stared at his wet fingertips in disbelief. He never sweated. The devil was usually able to control _everything_ relating to his body.

His heart pounded rapidly in his chest. Every fiber of his body screamed for him to make an escape, his instincts letting vast amounts of adrenaline flow through his veins. Involuntarily, he tensed his muscles, ready to defend himself till the last breath. Flight was unfortunately no longer an option.

"Lucifer?"

He heard her voice beside him and she sounded... amused? He looked at her, with clear panic in his eyes and was more than shocked, when he saw her mischievously grin. He choked on air, trying to say something, but this overwhelming fear left him speechless.

They both were standing near a long line of people, which had queued up in order to make it in time inside to the movie. Two very unmotivated guys wearing ghastly vests stood to the left and right of the excited parents and their children, took tickets from their hands and tore off a part of it. The noise of this little crowd was enormous, joyful chuckles and snippets of different conversations reached their ears.

Chloe looked around, she knew what caused had Lucifer’s sudden panic and her grin deepened as she finally spotted the reason for his fear. Her daughter and her two girlfriends had finally grabbed their snacks for the movie and stormed back to her and… Lucifer.

A tremulous croak escaped his throat. Obviously, he was the target for all three of them. They ran really fast towards him, their sparkling eyes focused on his lean figure.

He raised his hands above his chest in defense, struggling to move a few steps away from the children. The wall in his back stopped him right in his tracks and prevented him from escaping his indispensable fate. His anxious eyes flickered to the tiny creatures, which had approached him finally.

"Lucifeeer!" A scream in three different pitches and small hands, that clung to his panted legs and his forearms.

"Look, we bought Nachos!"

"And Coke!"

"I've bought a ring, I can wear it or eat it, isn’t this so cool? It’s strawberry flavor!"

"Mine tastes like cherries!"

"Can you show us your ring?"

“Do you even like nachos?"

"We bought popcorn too, caramel popcorn, that's super tasty!"

"Why are you sweating like that, it's not warm here at all? "

Chloe watched the extremely entertaining scene in silence and tried her best to avoid a giggle. Lucifer’s devilish charm obviously wasn’t restricted to any age barriers. He was like a magnet for women.

"My Mom is single too, maybe you would like to go on a date with her?" One of the little girls beamed up at him. Trixie snorted loudly and jammed an elbow in her friend's side. "What?" gasped her friend angrily. "Mommy said I should ask him!"

Chloe's daughter grabbed Lucifer's hand in a very possessive way and shooed her two friends back. She stuck her tongue out and pulled him vigorously past the queue of people down the hallway that lead to the different halls of the cinema. The other girls shrugged and followed them with unrestrained enthusiasm, they giggled and babbled with gleaming eyes.

Lucifer looked back over his shoulder to Chloe, imploringly. "De-Detective?" he asked hoarsely. "He-Help?" She couldn’t hold it any longer and started to laugh out loud, tears crept down her cheeks. He gave her a look of pure reproach. "Detective... how dare you... there is absolutely nothing funny about this!" 

Little tremors jolted her shoulders and she really tried her best to suppress another laugh, even if it seemed almost impossible to stay earnest. She followed the little group, taking in the sight. A very tall, handsome man, wearing a designer suit and looking frightened to death, was dragged along the aisle by a tiny little girl, while two other girls danced around them. He tried desperately to avoid too much physical contact with the children, but he failed, the kids didn’t know about something like _personal space_. 

At last, Chloe took pity on him and caught up with the funny quartet in front of her, trying to restore some discipline to the fangirling little Ladies. She searched for a suitable row of seats and ushered all of them to the comfortable, plushy chairs. A small scramble followed, because each of the girls wanted to sit right next to Lucifer. She shot him a quick glance and decided he had been tortured enough for the moment.

"Get over there. Trixie-Babe, I sit next to you and Lucifer is sitting on my other side. Give him some rest, Sweeties, or he won’t be able to enjoy the movie," she whispered, winking at the trio.

The girls giggled hysterically, but followed her request and Lucifer sent her a very grateful look. He took a deep breath and practically fell down on his seat, only to leap up a second later. A curse erupted from his lips.

"This is way too tight here, Detective, I hardly have enough space," he hissed.

"I'm sorry, all the seats with more room are already occupied." Worried, she looked him up and down. “Honestly, I don’t even know if there _is_ a seat which fits you at all.”

He grunted and tried to wrinkle his long legs somehow between the seats. His grimace was painful and he asked himself seriously how long he would last this cruel torture.

"Hey Dude, you're going to duck your head, right?"

Lucifer slowly turned in his seat, raising an eyebrow in disbelieve. He faced a very angry looking male teenager, who dared to press further. "Man, I can’t look at the whole screen, if you don’t make yourself a little smaller," he nagged.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Are you deaf? You sit in my way… I mean… in my sight." The boy wagged his hand in annoyance.

Lucifer's eyes started to glow dangerously and Chloe grabbed his shoulder in a flash. Calmingly, she put a hand on his upper arm and turned around too.

"Hey, you. Shut up. He is tall. Smaller does not work. If you can’t see anything, go and take a seat over there, there are still free places left," she whispered harshly. The kid glared at her defiantly, but she stared back at him, totally unimpressed. She gave him her best _I'm-a-rough-cop-look_ and after a few seconds, the teenager blinked and lowered his eyes in defeat. Satisfied, Chloe turned back again.

She noticed Lucifer looking at her from the side. Smiling, she turned to him, shrugged apologetically and patted his thigh encouragingly. He raised an eyebrow and she couldn’t resist and pursed her lips. She blew a kiss in his direction, grabbed one of the soft drinks, they brought and handed it out to him.

His eyebrow slid even higher. "What's that?" He looked suspiciously at the light brown liquid in the unappetizing paper cup.

"Ice tea," Chloe mumbled distractedly. The room went gradually dark and the endless row of commercials, which were shown before the actual film flickered over the screen in front of them.

Lucifer sighed heavy. He searched for his flask in the inside pocket of his blazer, found it and poured the whole content into the cup. Chloe gave him a quick look and he toasted at her provocatively. She rolled her eyes and leaned toward Trixie, who whispered something in her ear.

Lucifer took a long sip of his cocktail and cocked his head. Never would he sell such a disgusting mixture to any of his patrons at LUX. They would sue him. Or hunt him with pitchforks and torches.

A raspy coughing to his right made him turn his head. He spotted an old woman, who had occupied the seat next to him. Apparently, she was here with her grand-spawn, a little boy who was staring open-mouthed at a commercial for any game console.

"Young man, do you need this armrest?" She raised a slightly shaking arm.

Befuddled, he watched her hand, taking a hold on his forearm. He swallowed audible and noticed the look in her eyes, which wasn’t suitable for a woman of her age… no, not at all. Bloody hell, he really could make use of an off-button this evening. He cleared his throat and pulled his limbs gently out of her grasp. "Of course, Madame. It is at your disposal," he said charmingly. She beamed at him and exposed a full, bad fitting denture.

Lucifer inhaled sharply and pressed his right arm tightly against his body. He gulped his Whiskey-Ice-Tea cocktail down at once and sighed again. These could possibly become the worst hours in his immortal existence.

Chloe gave him an uncertain look and handed him the popcorn. Thankfully he reached out for it, at least the snacks were not too bad here.

The movie finally started and to his own amazement he even found it quite entertaining. The accent of the main character was funny and made him laugh.

"What's that called?" he whispered to Chloe and pointed to the screen.

"Hotel Transylvania. It's already the third movie." She watched in delight as Lucifer chuckled at something that _Dracula_ said to his companions.

When Trixie started to beg her for Lucifer joining their movie night, she had not been sure if he would approve. To her surprise he had agreed immediately after she asked him and she had tried to find a film that was not too, well… feminine, but the girl would also like. Apparently, her choice had been correct.

Chloe looked at him with sparkling eyes. Unexpectedly, he threw his head back and laughed out loudly. His adorable, exposed throat made her heart skip a beat and her eyes slowly wandered over his body. There had never been a moment since she’d known him, that Lucifer didn’t look like a model and it was hard getting used to it. His perfectly fitting suits, his stylish hairstyle, his handsome face and his incredibly attractive body... her thoughts drifted away.

He laughed out loudly again and she looked up to him in awe. Seeing him so relaxed and happy was overwhelming. Going to the movies with him and her daughter as if they were a family just felt incredibly good.

Maybe trying to be in a relationship with Satan in the flesh could work somehow. They started very slowly and carefully. Both were unsure how to deal with _everything_ , after they decided to no longer deny their feelings for each other. Chloe feared most, that he would run away from her again, and Lucifer still struggled with the idea that she might reject him like his family did.

It was... complicated... but still, it was worth it.

Lucifer chuckled again.

Caught, she shut her eyes briefly and turned away, feeling slightly embarrassed. She cleared her throat and tried to relax her suddenly tense neck muscles.

He studied her from top to bottom and a knowing, smug smile spread on his face. The Detective had checked him out, indeed.

Except for a passionate kiss over a week ago, they had not grown closer to each other… physically… very much to his regret. Chloe shied away from his careful advances, though he could see the fiery looks she gave him from time to time. But he also could sense her insecurity and did not press further. Instead, he spent as much time as possible with her. It took him by surprise how much he enjoyed being with her, how much he loved talking, watching a movie, taking a walk, doing breakfast, dinner or lunch, as long it was _with her_. Even playing games with her _and_ the little hell spawn did not bother him as much as it had before… but his desire to kiss her, pick her up and carry her to her or his bedroom grew stronger. He didn’t know how long he could contain himself, before he would finally combust one day.

Chloe shifted restlessly in her seat and he decided to relinquish his restraint for the moment. Maybe it was time to remind her what he had to offer.

His left arm stretched silently and with an elegant movement, he laid it over the back of her seat. His gaze seemed to be completely focused on the screen, while his long fingers gently brushed against her neck. She wore her hair in a messy braid today and he wrapped one of her loosened strands unhastily around his forefinger.

The feathery touches sent shivers down her spine. His warm fingers on her cool skin and the slight tugging on her hair made it almost impossible for her to pretend that she was more interested in the movie than in him. His hand caressed the sensitive spot behind her ear and she gasped.

Lucifer lost himself in the thought of where his fingers would travel next if they were alone and not in a place full of people, including the company of the spawn and her friends. The softness of her skin made him think of how other parts of her body would feel under his hands and the crotch of his pants suddenly became uncomfortably tight.

He looked at her from the corner of his eye and noticed that her lips had parted slightly. Her eyes had lightened up and she looked both incredibly tempting and seductive at once.

He leaned towards her carefully, while his fingers continued playing over the skin of her neck. Suddenly, he stopped the movements of his hands, encircled both of her shoulders with his arm and pulled her close, fondly.

Chloe's breathing speed up. Her eyes flickered helpless to his sensual mouth, the tip of her tongue slipped involuntarily over her lower lip and she wasn’t able to gather one straight thought in her mind anymore. His fingers barely brushed her neck again before they wrapped around the back of her head, pulling her over for a kiss.

Their lips touched nearly imperceptible and way too short, the hint of his soft kiss made Chloe's body shiver and her stomach fluttered nervously. She placed her palm on his cheek and ran her fingers over his rough five o’clock shadow.

"Lucifer," she breathed and he slowly approached her again, closing the tiny gap between them. His lips touched hers again, enjoying their softness and warmth.

Chloe tenderly bit on his lower lip and was rewarded with a faint, feral sound, coming from his throat. His fingers spread in her hair as he deepened the kiss. She felt a throbbing sensation in her temples and answered his growing need with her own. Dizzy, she felt so dizzy, her whole world started to zoom in on this overwhelming feeling of his lips on hers… she….

An impatient tug on her shirt sleeve, a snort… and Chloe roughly came down from her Lucifer-High. "Mommy, I have to go to the loo," whispered Trixie, not very silently.

Panting, she freed herself from Lucifer's arm in a second and looked at her daughter with blown eyes. His hand was still buried in her hair and she could hear his heavy breaths.

"Monkey... I... " breathed Chloe and tried to catch herself. She shook her head and leaned down to her daughter. Lucifer's fingers slid out of her hair completely, the loss of his touch leaving her feeling bereft.

Trixie's eyes narrowed. "I'm not a baby. Sookie is coming with me, we'll go together." She gave her mother a mischievous look and scurried past her, her friend right behind her.

Lucifer released the Detective as the two girls edged past him. He did not know where to hide his legs and they literally climbed over him on their way out, giggling – what else. His libido collapsed instantly.

Chloe gave him an apologetic smile. Her pupils were still slightly dilated and he swallowed hard.

A shaky hand landed with a faint _thud_   on his thigh. His eyes widened, he turned his head only to recognize, that the old woman on his right side winked at him lascivious. He choked on air, sending helpless looks back to Chloe. His Detective grinned from ear to ear and began uncontrolled to giggle like her offspring.

Bloody Hell!

If the two of them would ask him again about joining a trip to the cinema, he would gladly offer a private performance in his penthouse instead, even if he had to install a new surround sound system just for them. Actually, the offspring’s cronies could come along too. Everything would be better than this. 


	2. Complications

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things develop slowly, please bear with me...  
> Thank you for reading!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again, to my amazing beta!  
> Your kindness and sweetness is second to non!

 

 

Amenadiel stood on the beach, watching the gentle waves of the Pacific Ocean rolling away. The sight was beautiful, peaceful. Since he had left the silver city and become stranded here in L.A., he’d spent hour after hour just looking out at the water and… brooding. Sometimes he sat down a short distance from the sea, took off his shoes and buried his toes in the fine sand.

His thoughts kept circling around the same two and mostly important topics in his now so human life. Firstly, how he was able to rise from a fallen angel to a worthy one again, and secondly....

He snorted softly. Relationship troubles.

While he was an angel, he didn’t exactly… hate… humanity, but his interest in them wasn’t really existent, because he rarely interacted directly with them. His respective duties were to train his siblings for a fight or war and – most of all – he was _the_ role model for all the others, younger ones. His unwavering obedience to his father had been an example and those, who looked up to him, followed suit.

Of course, he _did_ have a few encounters with his Father's creation, but they were rather unpleasant and they all served punishment. As the first born, he wasn’t created to become a guardian angel or a mediator. This had never been _his_ fate.

When he had to guard the gates of Hell a few years ago because of Lucifer’s stupid… vacation, his impression of humanity wasn’t a good one, speaking of all the bad and lost souls who passed him by. So, he never wished to close the well positioned gap between him and this inferior species. Well, Malcolm had been an exception and his approach to Lucifer's therapist… both humans had been very useful, in the beginning. Not very much at the end, but he couldn’t take back the things he did. Much to his own regret.

He clenched his fists. Thinking of his past actions which caused the loss of his powers, and which finally turned him into _one of them_ , was painful. Very painful. There was no other choice than to adapt, to align and how he hated all of it. Meanwhile, he had to admit, the more he dealt with this humanity situation, the more he got to know them and slowly, he began to understand _why_ his father had created them.

Free will. Emotions. Unpredictability.

Humans were so different from his own kind and they were, somehow, far more exciting.

He grinned slightly, as he secretly compared his Father to a scriptwriter or a producer, who created his own little entertainment opportunity. Watching mankind probably came close to what his beloved creatures felt watching a really compelling movie or an amazing television show. He shook his head in amusement, but then his gaze involuntary fell on an entwined couple who strolled past him and his smile froze.

Watching people might be hilarious and entertaining, but actually _being_ one of them was just... exhausting. Their emotional life was so complicated - and now so was his. 

He sighed and closed his eyes.

Maze. Why couldn’t he stop thinking about their short but fierce… _whatever_ this had been. The demon had something about her that still drew him close, but he couldn’t put his finger on _what_ it was exactly, aside from the fact that she was obviously really _hot_. Her recent change left him surprised - she developed feelings, even though she won’t ever admit it. It was kind of fascinating to watch a soulless creature like her becoming friends with a human child and… 

…Linda. A warm smile spread across his face. This intelligent, witty, charming woman who had suddenly managed to occupy his mind and made him think of her day and night. He felt so good when he was with her, he loved their talks.  With her around, he could almost forget who he had been before.

If only there hadn’t been Maze’s sudden strange and angry behavior towards the both of them, which really puzzled him. Could there be the slightest chance, that the tough, badass demon might be jealous? But - why on Earth? _She_ had been the one who ended their relationship. Her anger bewildered him, made him think things over and over again and this caused a sudden outburst of his obviously repressed feelings for her. At the same time, he severely doubted if being _just friends_ was the only thing he wanted from Linda.

He didn’t know to which of the two women he was more drawn to, more attracted to and it was just… annoying.

Thoughtfully, he took a deep breath. The air near the sea was enriched with oxygen and salt, it felt so much better in his lungs than the pervasive smog that hung over a huge part of L.A. In those moments he missed his home dearly, nothing was comparable to the purity of the silver city.

He was suddenly disconcerted - something disturbed the silence around him. A barely noticeable change in the atmosphere, a slight vibration and it wasn’t caused by a terrestrial source. His eyes closed for a brief moment and he took another deep breath, in and out.

"Michael," he said, his tone free from any emotion.

His brother appeared out of thin air and stepped beside him on the shore. None of them spoke a word, as they stood side by side, looking out over the sea together for a brief, peaceful moment. Then, the younger archangel slowly turned his head towards the elder, fallen angel.

"I miss your wings, brother." Michael's eyes wandered over Amenadiel’s tall figure, spotting his modern, dark blue jeans and gray sweatshirt. "And I'm missing your robe."

The older one grimaced. "These clothes are very comfortable and besides, I was sick of explaining that it is a _robe_ and not..." he broke off and squinted. "Never mind."

He narrowed his eyes. "What do you want here, Michael? Discussing clothing issues?" He did not comment on the allusion to his wings.

Michael laughed humorlessly. "As if I'm in the slightest interested in such irrelevant things, brother." His dark eyes lit up briefly and an amused smile played over the corners of his mouth.

"Why are you here, then?" repeated Amenadiel. "Did Father send you?"

"You know him, it's been a very, very long time since he last gave anyone a direct order." Michael put a firm hand on his brother's shoulder.

"It seems to me that this last order concerned a certain rebellious sibling and his outcast from Heaven. It also seems to me, that this command has just been sabotaged and that it is my duty now, to execute it again." His voice dropped to a threatening whisper. "Why haven’t you sent Lucifer straight back to Hell, brother? Instead of toying around and reawakening humans that already belonged in the fires of damnation? You know, as all of us do, that it's his punishment, his destiny. Instead of simply using your powers and throwing him down in the deepest pit, you let yourself be tempted by his false tongue. How many misdemeanors have you committed - all because of him? You _fell_."

He took a step back. "Look at yourself. Wingless. Powerless." He looked at him contemptuously. "Unworthy. Pathetic."

Amenadiel remained calm. "There is no task for you, Michael. If Father had wanted to send Lucifer back to Hell, then it would have happened long ago." He crossed his arms over his broad chest. "By now, I think that he has other things in mind for him."

Michael shook his head in disbelief. "Oh, do you now? Why, for Heaven’s sake, would _you_ know about Father's intentions? You haven’t been in the Silver Sity for seven years, now. First, I thought you stayed away because you were ashamed, but now... well... you can’t go back there, even if you wanted to, huh?"

"Father hardly ever addresses one of us, Michael. Whether I am on Earth or in Heaven, it doesn’t change the fact that we have to _guess_ His whishes and that we must constantly worry about what He _may_ be thinking. Sometimes, we are lucky and hit the bull's-eye – sometimes we are terribly wrong. So, let me tell you, Brother, I presume that even _you_ are miles away from knowing what he really wants."

"Ha! I am certain that it matters _where_ you are and you can’t convince me otherwise. In your absence from the Silver City and without having our… well, backup… you have been lulled by Lucifer. You succumbed to evil. That would have never happened..." he broke off abruptly when Amenadiel gruffly grabbed his white robe.

"Lucifer is _not_ evil," the former angel hissed through his clenched teeth in anger. "You do him wrong. _I_ did him wrong. All he ever wanted was to have free will and to be himself."

The dark-brown eyes of the archangel flashed in a sudden warning. With a barely perceptible movement, he released his brother's grip and hurled him a few feet away. Amenadiel’s back hit the, fortunately, soft sand. He struggled to his feet again and brushed off his clothes, with the slightest hint of anger. Determined, he took a step toward Michael.

His brother gave him a cold look. "What happened to you? Since when is Lucifer your favorite? I can still remember you giving us brilliant speeches and boasting about how you would drag him back to Hell before you flew down here. Every single time. What's different _now_ , Amenadiel? "

"Just leave him alone, Michael," threatened the older one, "Do not make the same mistake as I did!"

"I am curious, how will you restrain me - hm, Brother? You are in a clearly inferior position." He laughed cheerlessly. "Oh, come on, you're making a fool of yourself."

Amenadiel closed his eyes briefly and tried his best to suppress his anger. He needed to help Lucifer and could not allow Michael to put him off, he had to change his tactics. His brother did not deserve to be forced down to Hell, he knew that, finally. He has proved that he still was an Archangel, the Lightbringer. He got his wings back and now, it was about time that he became one of the two strongest of all angels again. He had mistaken him badly and at the end, he had to pay the price for his own pride and prejudice. Never would he allow someone else to act the same false way as he did.

He raised his hands in a gesture of peace. "Lucifer does good, not bad, Michael. He protects people, helps them. He punishes the bad guys and saves the good guys. He cares about Father's dearest creation, deeply. You know as well as I do, that history made him to _the Devil_ , _the Evil_ – but he never _was_ evil. His greatest desire, having free will, has been fulfilled and Father has never directly ordered to bring him back to Hell - in all of this eons, I _thought_ I had to do that. I honestly doubt he wants to punish him any longer. After all, he bestowed him a _miracle_ , he has... " baffled, he looked down. Crap, he hadn’t wanted to mention Chloe.

"He bestowed him _what_?" The archangel froze. "Repeat that! A _miracle_?" Michael grabbed the upper arm of his brother. "This can’t be true? Why should Father give a miracle to _him_?  _Him_! After everything he did?"

Amenadiel tried to shake his brother off, but Michael grabbed him firmly and pulled him close without any effort.

"Tell me about this _miracle_ , Brother," Michael hissed in his ear. "Or you will _bot_ h end up in Hell together and there will be no escape this time."

 

  

 

 

**********

 

 

 

 

Chloe frowned thoughtfully. "Louis XIV? Really? Hmm…."

"Yes." Lucifer sighed softly. "You know. The Sun King, _le Roi Soleil_."

Chloe put a finger to her chin and frowned again.

" _Versailles_?" he tried once more.

"Oh!" she exclaimed exaggeratedly. "Yeah, I know... didn’t he lead such a lavish lifestyle? And didn’t he wear such horrible wigs? And… lice, alright? There must have been many lice involved…."

Lucifer rolled his eyes. "Every baroque Sovereign had all of this. Are you aware that more happened in Europe than World War One and World War Two?" Provoking, he slightly tickled her soles. She squealed and pulled her foot away from him.

After coming back from the cinema to her apartment, she had shyly invited him in for a drink. Unsure about the right thing to do, he’d hesitated. Both stood there in silence, facing each other, until Trixie just grabbed Lucifer’s wrist and pulled him inside.

"Careful, child!" he had tried to protest, "this is going to become a filthy habit!" The little spawn had only grinned at him, sniggering mischievously and led him to the couch. She had ordered him to sit down and shooed away to the kitchen corner, where she begged her Mother to pour him a Whiskey _neat_. The Detective showed her how to fill in two fingers of the golden liquid and the offspring proudly served him his drink with a very concentrated look, her tongue stuck between her teeth.

Chloe couldn’t help but laugh when Trixie curled up next to him, ignoring his need for distance. She had confidently squeezed herself into his side and gabbled cheerfully about the movie. His grimace had been hilarious, but after a few minutes and to his own surprise, Lucifer found himself involved in a brisk discussion about different comics, dominated by the little spawn. The child was funny and extraordinarily intelligent, just like her mother and he had really enjoyed their little conversation.

After a while, Chloe had ushered Trixie into the bathroom to do things like brushing teeth and changing in her pyjamas. To his displeasure, the Offspring had insisted on _him_ reading out her daily bedtime story and she hadn’t given up until he gave in. The Detective had handed him a multicolored book, which practically screamed about his dullness and then she had quietly slipped out of the room, leaving him to his fate.

Chloe had made herself comfortable on the couch, after all, it had been an exhausting day. Smiling, she had listened to the giggles that now and then reached her ears. When Lucifer finally sat back down next to her, she had glared at him and laid her tired feet on his lap, without further thinking about it. She had decided to start a personal _question-and-answer_ session. There was so much she wanted to know about him and his life… his unimaginably long life… and so, there they were, talking about Louis XIV.

Carefully, she put her foot back on his thigh and looked at him suspiciously. "So, you were hanging out at the court? With your baroque Dudes? Enjoying some luxurious lifestyle? Why am I not surprised?" she teased him.

"Believe me, it was not _that_ glorious, well… at least not after a while anyway. Being surrounded by those snooty, unwashed, filthy and self-glorifying courtiers… even I couldn’t bear it more than a few months. Not even for all of this seductive cleavages." His teeth flashed as he grinned at her. "I must confess that their sense for fashion was second to none... so yummy... all this bare flesh in the right places…  shame..." His eyes wandered meaningfully from her face to her simple, long-sleeved shirt.

Chloe snorted. "Sure, what man wouldn’t like it when a woman’s bosom literally bounces in his reach. I am also sure that all the ladies wearing corsets that hardly allowed them to breathe thought exactly the same." She sighed. Lucifer was a celestial being and humans had always been there for his pleasure. Why should he bother about their health or their uncomfortable wardrobe.

She narrowed her eyes. He still grinned at her - oh so smug - and she decided to annoy him a little bit. "Actually, I think the reason why you liked being amongst this devotee for absolutism was on the one hand, that they promoted art and culture and on the other hand... you know, people, who thought everything was just about _them_.... "She wiggled her eyebrows meaningfully. "It must have been something utterly new – constantly being surrounded by noisy mirror images, right?" She giggled.

Lucifer was baffled. "I admit, I don’t know what impressed me more, Detective. The fact, that you only pretended to suffer from an insufficient education, or that you are repeatedly trying to provoke me on purpose."

He lowered his voice to a velvet whisper. "Careful, Darling. Tempting the Devil isn’t very wise." His expression took on something predatory, as he slowly examined her from top to bottom.

Chloe ignored his hungry look and rose up in protest. "Seriously? What do you mean… you are _surprised_ that… I suffer from _what_?"

Lucifer paused in his passionate appraisal of his prey and raised his hands defensively. He started to say something, but Chloe cut him off. "I've always been interested in history and by that I don’t mean only _our_ history, I _do_ include the European as well. It was one of my favorite subjects at school and if you ever took a look at my bookshelves instead of constantly complaining about missing a _proper drink_ , you would already have noticed that. My collection can’t compete with yours - by far, but for an average household it is more than well-stocked. So, stop being _that_ smug, Dude."

"Dude?" he groaned in disbelief.

Chloe stuck her tongue out and gave him a slight push with her foot, angrily. His arrogance was really hard to bear, some days. He didn’t even blink at her touch and she pushed him again, a little firmer this time, he could be so damn annoying.

He looked befuddled and eyed her foot suspiciously, which hovered above his leg - already resigned for the next kick. Seeing his expression, her anger fizzled out and she had to suppress a grin. She wiggled her toes slightly and Lucifer raised an eyebrow in confusion. She couldn’t help it and burst out into a laughter. 

"You should see your face..." she gasped for air and lowered her leg. "You’re stunningly cute when you look so dumbfounded." He frowned as she winked at him. "Besides, I'm trying to get a certain picture out of my head… you… wearing a black curly wig and white stockings," she snorted again.

"The Devil is not... cute... nor dumbfounded!" he protested, puffed up, but she only bubbled over with laughter again. Was she making fun of him? Bloody little minx. He grinned. Oh, he liked this sassy side of her, he _really_ liked it.

Clearing his throat, he looked at her in exaggerated seriousness.

"My, my, Detective. Playing with fire, are we?" Without any warning, he suddenly grabbed her ankle and tickled the sole of her socked foot mercilessly.

Chloe gasped in surprise and giggled wildly.

"Stop it, please... ungh... stoooop!" she breathed and tried to withdraw her foot from his grip.

Wordlessly, he just continued and didn’t even think about releasing her, but his tickles made her lower parts tighten painfully. Damn! She was the ruler of her bladder, she would not…. 

"Luuciifer!" she cried desperately and managed somehow to sit up. Revenge! She grabbed him with both hands and her fingers found their way straight under his black suit jacket. Ruthlessly, she tickled the sides of his upper body and – _yay_ \- she found a very sensitive spot below his ribs. To her absolutely delight, a high-pitched chuckle escaped his lips. Suddenly, he dropped her foot and tried to catch her hands. His movements were rather uncontrolled and she had no problem escaping him, finding again this newly discovered weak point. 

"Detectiiive!" he yelled.

The sounds she elicited from him were so contrary to his appearance and so unutterably adorable, Chloe could not get enough of it. She didn’t fear waking her daughter, Trixie’s sleep was very solid.

“Grrr,” she growled and clawed her fingers before she lunged at him again.

He flinched back on the couch, away from her, until he reached the end of it. She followed him straight and managed to repeatedly hit the right spot in spite of his attempts to keep her at a distance. A howl from him was her reward.

Breathless, he waved a finger in front of her face. "Stop, Detective - stay! That's diabolical!" Groaning, he caught her whirling fingers and forced her to hold still.

They were very close now, Chloe nearly straddled him and his thighs pressed tightly between her own legs. Her hands were intertwined and both panted heavily. Their spontaneous encounter caused single strands to loosen from her braid and her cheeks flushed red. She beamed at him.

He was captivated by her. She was so beautiful, and she had absolutely no idea how much she was affecting him, how much he wanted her with every fiber of his body, how much he _needed_ her. His heartbeat quickened - he couldn’t imagine spending a day without her ever again.

She wiggled over him, shifting her weight carefully and his gaze wandered involuntarily down to her hips. When she caught him staring, she tried to get away from him, feeling slightly embarrassed, but he pulled her to his body with a sudden jerk. Helplessly, she practically fell against his chest.

Lucifer released her fingers and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. Her palms lay flat on his chest, she could feel his strong heartbeat beneath them. She was in his lap now and a lascivious expression crept into his eyes, his lips pursed in anticipation.

She stared at him, mesmerized, unable to take her eyes off his face and her gaze flickered between his glowing, dark brown orbs and his sensual mouth, which practically begged to be kissed. Oh God, he _was_ such a temptation, a walking sin on two legs. No wonder nobody was able to resist him.

Like in trance, she reached out a trembling finger and slid it gently over his jaw, up to his lower lip. She inhaled sharply as he parted his lips and licked over the tip, his eyes locked with hers. A shiver ran down her spine, caused by his hands which slid over her hips, caressing her tenderly, before he finally grabbed her butt and squeezed it, slightly.

Her eyes fell to his mouth again as he softly sucked on her finger, every flick of his tongue sent small electric shocks through her body. She moaned, very loudly. Crap, these gorgeous lips….

* _Plop_ *

She yanked her finger out of his mouth and clashed her lips on his, kissing him passionately. Her hunger for him was nearly immodest, she wanted to taste more of him, wanted to drown in him. He returned her eagerness, pulling her flat to him and deepening the kiss even more. She could feel him starting to move beneath her, his arousal pressed against the thin fabric of her jeans. A guttural sound rumbled through his chest and she answered it with a groan of herself.

Her hands slid under his suit jacket… why was he still wearing it… there were far too many clothes between them. Vexed, she broke the kiss and tried to push the damn piece of fabric down over his shoulders, but he didn’t help her attempts to undress him, he was far too busy touching her - his fingers seemed to be all over her body at the same time. She could see the twitching of his back muscles, as he clearly stifled the urge to spread his wings.

Chloe let out a frustrated sound and took a shaky breath. Both paused for a moment and she looked at him, getting lost in his beautiful dark eyes once more. He grinned and moistened his lips with his tongue, very slowly and very seductively. Suddenly her frustration exploded and she tugged at the buttons of his shirt impatiently. Bare skin, she needed bare skin immediately, or she would go mad.

Lucifer started to fumble with the zip of her jeans, he seemed to pursue a similar thought as she did. Their feverish hands got in each other’s  way and she shoved his fingers aside, she needed more space to aim her own target and… she squealed as Lucifer flipped them over without warning. Her back pressed in the cushion of her couch and she wrapped her legs around his slim hips in an instant, trying to pull him closer to where she needed him most.

He hovered above her, resisting his own want a little longer and stared down at her instead. A feral growl left his throat as his hungry gaze flickered over her body and his eyes flashed into a deep red all at once.

His intense stare blazed a trail through her hazy mind and her desire was abruptly displaced with an unwelcome thought about her underwear, which – as usual – did not match and was far from being sexy lingerie. Never had she planned to get… physical with him tonight and a feeling of insecurity hit her right in the chest.

She felt his fingers sliding under the hem of her shirt and she quickly reached out, capturing his wrists. "Stop, Lucifer… please," she breathed. He gasped in surprise and she closed her eyes, she was to ashamed to look at him. "Please, I... I can’t..." she whispered hoarsely and tried to avoid the tears, that threatened to fall. Her stomach tightened painfully and the sexual tension was gone, stifled by her fear of disappointing him.

Lucifer froze and looked down at her in alarm. She had stiffened completely, did not look at him and her lips were pressed together defensively. It wasn’t the first time she’d done this, stopping him before they could get any further, but tonight… they had never been _so_ close before... it had never been _that_ hard... literally… to stop himself. He noticed the faint flutter of her eyelids and a single tear emerged running down her cheek.

Very well.

Apparently, he had crossed a line, but he wanted to do this right, he didn’t want to make a mistake, he didn’t want to lose her.

He took a deep breath.

And another one.

One more.

Bloody hell.

He slowly removed her legs from his hips and sat up again, struggling to regain his self-control. A trembling hand ran through his hair, his panting still heavy. These constant interruptions would drive him mad.

Chloe sat up too, leaning timidly towards him and gave him a soft kiss on his stubbly cheek. He closed his eyes in despair - his heartbeat hadn’t slowed down yet. 

He groaned softly as she wrapped her arms around him, burying her head in his crook. "I'm so sorry, Lucifer. It's just so difficult… all of this… I can’t... I don’t know how..." she broke off and palmed his cheeks tenderly. "Sorry," she breathed.

Sighing, he pulled her close and kissed her forehead lovingly. "No worries, Darling." He stroked her back reassuringly and tried not to think about how certain parts of her pressed against his still longing body.

"Would you like another drink?" she asked hesitantly.

He shook his head in denial. He didn’t want her to get away from him at the moment, he needed her now, even though the fun part of the evening was obviously over. The feeling of holding her in his arms was far too precious for him. Each touch from her was pure gold, he was glad to hold her close. Who would have ever thought that he would be satisfied only with a hug? At least, satisfied for _now_.

"I don’t need a bloody thing, Chloe. Stay, please. It is all very much to my delight," he whispered into her hair and hugged her tighter.


	3. Honesty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next two chapters for those, who like to read my story.  
> Thank you and as always, a big fat shoutout to my wonderful beta :) - a great writer, who has to deal with me :)

 

 

Maze sauntered through the penthouse above LUX, searching. She had almost consumed her whole ecstasy reserve last night and she _knew_ that Lucifer still bunkered the good stuff somewhere in this place. Even if he was playing the tamed Devil for Chloe right now, she didn’t think that he would throw drugs in the bin… or… _nah_ , he wouldn’t… would he? Suspiciously, she turned on her heels and decided to look for her swag in his ample dressing room.

She thought of Decker and the day, the Detective had confessed to her that she was worried about this ’ _whole Hell situation_ ’ _._ Maze had tried to hide the fact that she had been slightly offended, as her roomie told her, that living together under the same roof was too much to deal with at the moment. So, she left and now… one party chased the other.

‘Cause she was _fun_.

Chloe’s fault she missed it. 

The demon had tried to be considerate and moved back to her old apartment in the building of the nightclub. She still cared about her human job - she just _loved_ a good hunt, but most of her time she spent in LUX, partying. Sometimes she helped out and poured drinks as a bartender, but she didn’t want to make it a random habit to work for Lucifer again. It had not been easy to break her bond with him and gain more independence then before. She didn’t want, as Linda expressed it, to fall back into old patterns.

Slowly, she strolled past Lucifer's playground, glancing at the neatly tucked dark sheets. Nothing funny or exciting had happened here for a while, she thought, grinning wickedly and moved on to the next room. They still hadn’t hit the sack - those idiots. Shaking her head, she rummaged through his secret hiding places. When she didn’t find the faintest hint of any drugs, she got restless 

Damn it, there had to be some stuff! Alcohol alone wasn’t strong enough to get her really high, but she needed that intoxicating feeling, she didn’t want to be reminded of the fact that Decker and the little offspring… she sighed. Why did she miss this Hell spawn so much? _Fuck_. It was easier to keep herself on a constant level of light numbness than to deal with all of these odd emotions. Feelings… urgh… nothing for a demon.

Point taken. Back to her needs.

It was late at night, midnight long gone and, unfortunately there was no chance to find any dealer nearby now. Lucifer wanted to keep the club clean lately, so she couldn’t simply go downstairs and pick up some shady character from the bar, threatening whoever to hand her out what she desired so badly.

Ah… good old days… when the ruler of Hell wasn’t involved with a certain Detective.

A sudden loud crash interrupted her train of thoughts and made her jerk. She turned around in a flash, switching into full combat mode, every muscle in her body tensed in alert.  Something splintered and she could hear a faint groan.

She pricked her ears, listening, but there was not a single loud… everything seemed to be calm again. Slowly, she pulled her daggers and lowered her hand to her waist, ready for attacking anyone who searched for a fight. Smooth as a cat, she crept back towards the living area where all the noise had come from.

Like a shadow she slid down the few steps that led from Lucifer's bedroom to the other part of the penthouse. The sharp blades in her hands reflected the soft light of the indirect overhead lighting as she looked around attentively. She drew in a sharp breath as she saw the trail of desolation from the open doors that led out on the patio to the living area.

The small glass table that normally stood between the Italian leather couches had burst into a thousand pieces and the modern reading lamp behind lay flat on the floor. Several parts of the furniture showed fresh red splashes and over the bright carpet spread a trail of blood, which apparently ended somewhere under the grand piano.

Cautiously, her eyes swept over the entire area as she slowly rotated around her own axis. Demons had various supernatural abilities, so her sense of hearing was way better than that of an ordinary human. She bared her teeth as a low, agonizing moan reached her ears.

Approaching the piano carefully, she stalled, her whole body still on high alert. With a swift move she dropped to her knees and peered under the large instrument. Before she could stifle it, she yelped in surprise as she saw Amenadiel, lying unnaturally dislocated on the floor. She jumped on his side and palmed his throat, trying to feel his pulse.

He looked terrible. One eye was already engorged and the other was about to close. His whole face was covered in scratches, his clothes torn and bloody. She could see the distinct patches of strangulation marks around his neck, the bruises began to turn dark. His breathing rattled and faltered again and again.

Maze gently stroked his flayed cheeks. He whimpered and tried to doge away from her caressing fingers, obviously he wasn’t able to bear the tiniest touch and her eyes filled with tears. She ignored his whines as she searched his body for injuries. An uncontrollable trembling made him flinch and he writhed helplessly.

 _Fuck_. That doesn’t look good. He was human now, no angel anymore and he was seriously injured. What would happen to him if he would dare to die on her, here under Lucifer’s piano… would he end up in Heaven or Hell?

Maze clenched her teeth. Amenadiel had constantly worked on proving himself worthy again. He had tried so hard… so _damn_ hard and she couldn’t risk that his Dad, this loose cannon, would shut down the doors of this shiny fucking city in front of his freshly deceased nose. She wouldn’t allow it; he deserved his chance for redemption. It was too soon for him to die.

Frenetic, she started to ponder where and how she could touch him without making this even more painful for him. She had to get him to a hospital as soon as possible. Carrying his weight was no problem at all, but… how….

Reluctantly, she reached for his arms, which he had wrapped tightly around his body, and forced them apart as gentle as she could. She was about to lift him up when she noticed him holding something in his clenched fingers. The object seemed to glow softly, a golden light penetrating the gaps between his fingers.

"No," she breathed. "Fuck."

Impotent rage swept over her.

 

 

 

**********

 

 

 

"I am really impressed and I think it is very responsible of you, that you came here today. You surprised me... uh – no, I mean... normally you are not… uh… what I want to say is that at least one of you is... uhm… nope… let me put it _that_ way...."

"Right. _Thank you,_ Doctor _?_ " Lucifer asked and interrupted Linda's stammering. Her insecure speech confused him and, unfortunately, it left him a little bit nervous. His eyes darted to Chloe, who sat quietly beside him, watching the therapist with an unfathomable expression.

Linda cleared her throat and leaned back in her chair. She crossed her legs and took a deep breath. She really could do better.

When Lucifer had asked her for a couple’s therapy session, she was taken aback by this very sensible idea and even more by the fact, that it was _his_. He always managed to amaze her.

She was so curious to see Chloe and him _together_ , to find out which own dynamic they had as a fresh couple and why they wanted to talk to her. The romanticist in her melted all over the thought of the Devil who had finally found his great love, clearly _the_ plot for a very heartbreaking movie.

Yep.

Normally, she had absolutely _no_ problem to keep an emotional distance to her patients, but in this case...

…She had been too involved in Lucifer's family dramas and his constant struggle with his feelings. She regarded him as a _friend_ now and Chloe as well. In fact, their relationship had become far too close for a Doctor and a patient, besides the… sex with him in the beginning, there was an emotional connection now as well. She _had_ considered to recommend another therapist, which would have been quite professional and yet… she hadn’t. It was her utmost personal concern to finally see him - _them_ \- happy together, she couldn’t help it.

But that's why she was the slightest hint of nervous. She had prepared herself more than usual for this specific session, trying to find another angle, to enable them to work with her properly. Lucifer _and_ Chloe needed advice and her professional knowledge, so she would do anything to help them as best as she could.

Disarmingly, she smiled at the couple on her couch, studying them inconspicuously. Both appeared a bit unnaturally. As always, a pitcher of water and some empty glasses stood ready on the small table that separated her from the patients.

Chloe had crossed her legs, her hands folded neatly in her lap. Obviously, she tried to exude a calm that she didn’t really feel. From time to time she teetered her toes or bobbed her head to the side, her movements too harsh to presume ease.

Lucifer tried – very hard - to purport a meaningless, relaxed expression, but he failed terrible too. His body language betrayed him as his fingers repeatedly ran through his hair or reached for his glass to sip on the water. He wiggled back and forth on his seat, his gaze flickered again and again uncertainly to the woman next to him.

Linda clapped her hands. "So. You two became one. Finally. I am so glad for you. It's so wonderful, that you started a relationship." Her smile briefly deepened at her words, then she put on a professional face and gestured towards her patients.

"But… of course, that’s not easy. You are both very independent people... or... rather... an independent _person_ and an independent _divine_ being. I presume, you still need to find your place in this relationship, step by step and by interacting with each other without neglecting your own needs." She tilted her head and looked at the couple over the black rims of her glasses, prompting them to say something.

Lucifer didn’t hesitate any second. "You are absolutely right, Doctor. Let’s jump right away ’ _in medias res’_. Needs. Interacting." He leaned forward and pointed a finger at the Detective. "She doesn’t want to _interact_ with me, although I have a very strong need to do so."

Chloe gasped and stared at him in disbelief.

"What? I thought that’s the reason why we are here?" he asked in surprise, noticing her bewildered expression and fiddled with the cuffs of his sleeves. "So, dear Doctor, now it’s your task. If you are able to help us having earthshaking sex tonight, you'll get the biggest bunch of flowers the world has ever seen." He grinned smugly. “I have no doubt in your extensive skills, by the way.”

"No... Lucifer... wait a minute..." Chloe wiggled her index finger and glared at him, angrily. "What the Hell is wrong with you?" she hissed. Her face had turned bright red.

"Chloe, there's nothing that can’t be uttered here," Linda hastened to reassure her. She grimaced slightly. "Vocalizing your feelings is very important and besides, I'm used to Lucifer's very... _straightforward_ wording. Actually, it is _good_ that he explains his thoughts to us. No worries."

"…And why shouldn’t I?" Lucifer continued. "Doctor, the Detective and I are an incredible, no – rather a _stunning_ combination, I am sure you agree? Just imagine, we already have a hundred percent detection rate in our cases and we would clearly have a hundred percent... whatever... rate, if she could overcome her obviously insecurities." He leaned back, very pleased with his little speech and folded his legs.

"Lucifer," Chloe groaned. He had been so sensitive ever since they started their… thing. Had  he finally lost his patience now? His promise, to remain monogamous had apparently already affected his libido. Unfortunately, she was more than aware that he needed sex like others needed the air to breathe, and of all things - she denied him exactly that. Out of a guilty conscience, she had agreed to take this therapy session today. Above all, she had to admit to herself, that she was on the verge of despair. Her self-inflicted celibacy did the worst things to her body and mind, there was no night when she didn’t dream of how he... _they_ ….

"Is that true? Are you feeling insecure, Chloe?" Linda interrupted her drifting thoughts.

The Detective rolled her eyes and sighed. Okay. She would try to open herself up, after all, she could barely look at Lucifer without any sinful imagery dimming her otherwise rational mind.

Embarrassed, she cleared her throat. "Yeah... yes. Yes, I'm _unsure_."

"Very brave, Chloe. That’s a good start," praised Linda. "Can you tell us _why_ exactly you're feeling this way?" she pressed further.

"I... I... uh... how… I don’t know…" choked Chloe desperately, hiding her face in her hands.

"Take your time. Everything’s fine. Take a deep breath, in and out. You can say _anything_ that springs to your mind, Chloe." Linda's voice was calm and sensitive. "We are listening."

Lucifer reluctantly put a hand on his partner's back, his warm fingers gently stroking her tense muscles. He didn’t want to see her this upset, but he finally had to know what was going on inside her beautiful head. She refused to speak about it, but he just _knew_ that she wanted him as much as he wanted her... and bloody hell,   _something_ had to be done so he wasn’t forced to break off every single time before he finally could catch a break. Linda would help them. She was really good.

Chloe's heart began to race in her chest as she felt his hands on her upper back. Meanwhile, every touch of him felt like pure torture, even though there was the fabric of her blazer plus her shirt between his fingertips and her bare skin, he left fiery marks on her body - her unfulfilled desire for him ignited.

She sighed loudly, preparing herself for the inevitable. "I… I really wanna... be intimate, you know. You have _no_ idea how badly I want to... I can hardly think of anything else...." Lucifer's very audible gasp of surprise interrupted her hesitant words. She ignored him deliberately and didn’t look at him at all. "But… it’s like there’s a wall… or a barrier I can’t come across."

"If you try to picture this obstacle, what does it consist of?" Linda asked softly.

Chloe massaged her temples. "I... dunno” she breathed. “Maybe… uh… there are women? Very _hot_ women?" she admitted ashamed.

"Women?" Lucifer puffed in astonishment. "Wha-?" He broke off as Linda raised her hand defensively at him.

"Shush, Lucifer!" she commanded.

He looked between her and Chloe, choking on air.

"Women?" Linda picked up the thread again. "Why women?"

The Detective gave Lucifer a quick sidelong glance and then leaned closer to Linda. "Maybe men too. Not just women." She raised an eyebrow, meaningfully and stared into the eyes of the Doctor.

"Oh!" Linda clenched her hand into a fist and made a slight grimace as she understood Chloe's words. "I got it," she tilted her head and pointed at Lucifer, "but it's important that you speak out loud to your partner about the things that cause you anxiety or worry, Chloe. Forthrightness is a core function in a relationship, without it, no bond will last." She nodded to the Detective and rolled her eyes encouragingly towards Lucifer, who suspiciously frowned at her words.

Chloe threw her head back in frustration and moaned loudly. "All right," she said resignedly and turned to face him. "I didn’t want to say anything, because... because... uh… I feel so stupid, Lucifer." She dropped her eyes.

"Detective," he whispered tenderly and reached for her hand.

She stopped him. "No, please. Let me finish… I… I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to say it again if you interrupt me now..." her voice broke and she fumbled nervously with her sleeves, avoiding looking at him. Crap. Out with it, she pushed herself notional.

"Lucifer, you're practically a _Sex God_. You are, speaking in your own words - _walking heroin,_ a living, wet dream for anyone who ever lays eyes on you, even only for a brief moment. You've actually slept with half of the population in L.A. and I'm not even able to imagine how many in total since your existence. I mean... can you or anyone else even calculate that?" She lost her train of thought for a moment.

"So, Chloe?" Linda tried to get her back on track.

" _So_ , your bed mates usually look like _sex-on-legs_ too or at least as if they had starred in a porno. Everyone is so damned... perfect... sexy... wicked. You must have had the time of your life with all of them and then, there is... me…." Tears filled her blue-green eyes as she continued talking.

"Lucifer, I am nothing like them. I am not wicked or seductive. I have a daughter; I take care of my own household and I really like to wear comfortable clothes. I have a job... I am... _boring_. I can’t keep up. What if we sleep together and you’re disappointed? What if you realize that I can’t give you what you want? What if you don’t want _me_ anymore?" She wasn’t able to hold back any longer. A knot formed in her chest and she sobbed frankly.

"Besides the fact, that everything you ever told me is _true_ , that Heaven and Hell actually _exist_ , that ’ _the God_ ’ is your Father… that a demon has been my roommate…. Every single day I have to endure all of these invasive women who stare at you hungrily, reach out to you or, worse, give you their phone numbers," she stammered on.

Lucifer stared at her, completely befuddled. "But... Detective..." he stuttered. Concerned, he looked at Linda, it was obviously that he didn’t know what to say.

His silence was too much to bear and Chloe suddenly burst into tears.

He blinked at her stunned and frozen, unable to comprehend what she had said. He glanced at the Doctor for help again, who gestured with her chin towards the Detective, motioning wordlessly something like ’ _hug her_ ’ with her lips. When he finally tried to pull Chloe into his arms, she had already jumped up.

"I'm sorry, Linda... I can’t..." she whispered and fled the practice.

 

 

 

**********

  

 

Amenadiel lazily opened his eyes and blinked into the bright sunlight. A sharp pain tore insidiously into his head and he quickly closed them again. He groaned in agony.

"That dickhead must hurt _a lot_ , right?"

Surprised, he opened his eyes again and looked around with effort, his heavy lids threatened to fall again, a slight feeling of nausea rising within him. He fought down his need for sleep and noticed that he was lying on one of Luci's light brown, leather couches in his penthouse. Maze stood next to it, her arms crossed over her chest. Worried, she looked down at him.

"Maze? What... how did I get here?" he stammered as he sat up carefully.

" _You_ tell me," she said. "Is there anything you remember?"

He frowned, thinking hard. "I was on the beach, watching the waves..." his voice trailed off as he tried to scrape his memories together. "It was quiet, peaceful... except when..." he panted, his eyes wide open now.

"What is it? What happened, Amenadiel?" Maze urged.

"Michael. Michael is here, Maze!" His voice trembled slightly and he swallowed hard.

She snorted and threw her arms in the air. "Great. Why am I not surprised at all." She started to pace up and down. "You had been the first. Then Uriel. So, you both had clearly been only the vanguard."

Amenadiel shook his head slightly and slowly got up from the couch. His legs were still a bit shaky and he grabbed the back of the couch to keep his balance. Maze approached him.

"After you _failed_ , Daddy released his secret weapon, didn’t he? Or is this brother just another misguided angel who _presumes_ to know what the _Almighty_ really wants?" She looked at him contemptuously.

"Father didn’t send him," Amenadiel answered, looking down at himself.

"It’s always the same. Can’t you finally leave Lucifer alone? You all feel _so_ sublime and believe you are better than him, but let me tell you something, you are fucking wrong. You are deceiving yourself.”

He put an assuring hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eye. "Maze. You are right and I am on his side now. There’s no need to take it out on me anymore."

She raised her eyebrows and looked at his hand meaningfully. He rolled his eyes, pulled his fingers away and gestured up and down his body. “How is that possible, Maze? The way he treated me, _beating_ me… there should be wounds…."

"I used his damn gift," she spat.

He frowned at her. "What gift?"

"The feather, Amenadiel. He lay one of his… nasty feathers into your palm after battering you half dead."

"I see," he whispered. "Apparently, he tackles things more tactically than I did." He shook his head. "He doesn’t want to make the slightest mistake and upset Father for nothing, so he beat me first and then made sure I could heal again. Flew me here so Lucifer would find me… I conduced him as a warning."

Maze nodded slowly. Her eyes were burning.

He crossed his hands over his chest and looked at her. A faint smile crept over his face. "Did you worry about me, Maze?"

The demon laughed briefly and turned away. Swinging her hips, she walked to the bar and reached for a half-full bottle of Whiskey. "Angels," she muttered, before she dumped the liquid in one gulp. “You and your damned egos.”

Amenadiel strolled after her, looking around. He registered the trail of blood on one of the furniture and on the carpet, the broken table and the broken lamp. Apparently, she had already begun to clean up the havoc that Michael had caused by throwing him in the penthouse. There were no glass splinters on the ground.

"We must tell him, Lucifer has to know that he is here, as soon as possible." Gratefully, he reached for the glass of whiskey that Maze had just poured for him.

"He isn’t answering his cellphone; I've been trying to call him for hours. I've tracked him though, he's at Linda’s office. Chloe too. How cute, right? Family therapy session." Her facial expression did not match her caustic tone, her concern for Lucifer made her fingers clench on the empty glass in her hand.

Amenadiel jerked violently at her words and almost dropped his drink. "Chloe," he groaned.

Maze raised her eyebrows questioningly.

He set his glass down and grabbed the demon by her shoulders. "Michael. He knows about Chloe. Not only that Lucifer works with her, Maze. He.  _Knows_."

Her eyes widened. "What have you done, Amenadiel?" she breathed.

"I didn’t want to mention it… it just slipped out of me by accident. When he insisted to know more about it and I refused to tell him, he attacked me." He looked at her, his eyes pleading for forgiveness. "I didn’t tell him _everything_ , Maze, but he knows that she is a miracle. Lucifer's miracle."

"Oo-kay…” she said, narrowing her eyes. “That’s bad… but I don’t think that he’s after her, he wouldn’t harm a miracle created by his _Daddy_ … nah… would he?" Her tone was scornful, but when he didn’t answer immediately, she became loud. "Would he, Amenadiel?"

His grip on her shoulders eased and he released her. "No… I don’t think so... I'm almost sure... " He put a finger on his chin. "Anyway, Maze. Michael will look for her and Chloe has no clue. We have to tell her too."

The demon snorted loudly. "I know that Lucifer wouldn’t allow it. He probably wants to fix everything on his own without giving her any hint."

"My brother can be… difficult, I know, but… come on, Maze. He wouldn’t be that narrow-minded, would he? How is Chloe supposed to be on alert and defend herself if she has no idea that Michael and Lucifer..." he searched for the right words.

"You wanna say, she should know there's a Lucifer look-alike running wild?" She reached for his hand and squeezed it. "Yeah, I think she has every right in the world to know _that_."

 

 

 

**********

 

 

 

Chloe stared at the steering wheel of her car. She felt so incredibly stupid. Why had she let him talk her into this therapy session. Maybe she could have overcome her insecurity in time anyway….

She let out a heavy breath. Basically, she lied to herself and she knew it all too well. It was the right thing to do - expressing her fears, but… it hadn’t changed anything yet.

Her eyes filled with tears again as she thought of the way he had looked at her. Oh, how she had whished that the ground would open up and swallow her in that moment. There’s no way he would ever fathom her dorky feelings and worst of all, she had rubbed his nose right into the fact, how _boring_ she was. He was probably already figuring out how to tell her that he wanted to have an open relationship, that monogamy wouldn’t work for him anyway. 

She didn’t doubt that she meant _something_ to him. She knew he had feelings for her too, but he also had… well, _needs_. Needs, she couldn’t meet. Never would she be able to share him with others, she was an exclusively monogamous type. If she was in a relationship, then she was _all in_ , with skin and hair and everything, without exceptions.

Watching strange women or men greedily eyeing him or trying to flirt with him was so hard to cope with, but it happened literally every single day. Her want to snarl at each of them like a dog, to shout ‘ _mine’_ in their faces, became overwhelming in such situations. Until now she had been able to yield to reason… she was a cop, cops didn’t shout at  strangers… but it was only a matter of time, her restraint dangled on a very, very thin string....

This relation-thing with him grew over her head. Clearly. Unlike Lucifer, she was only human. How could she deal with all this supernatural stuff and get a grip on her complicated love life too? Not to mention her daughter, her work, all these crime scenes. How was she supposed to handle all of it at once? Dear… Dad. Why had she fallen in love with him? There were so many fish in the sea, but she had to pick up, well… quite a handful.

Anger started to mingle with her fears and worries. She wiped her tears away and looked in the rearview mirror of her car. Sighing, she registered her pale skin, the dark rings under her eyes, and her swollen eyelids. Great. She looked absolutely _stunning_. Maybe her colleagues wouldn’t notice… oh, what the hell! She couldn’t change it anyway.

All of a sudden very tired, she got out of the car, laboriously. She grabbed her bag from the back seat and locked the doors. Her footsteps sounded unnaturally loud in the empty parking garage as she sluggishly made her way toward the exit.

Goose bumps suddenly spread all over her body and she stopped abruptly. Alerted, she eyed her surroundings carefully and lowered her arm slightly in the direction of the gun holster. Someone was here, she could clearly feel that she was being watched.

"Hello?" The soft echo of her voice reverberated over the parked cars.

Regardful, she turned around slowly, her hand hovering over her weapon. She couldn’t see anyone. Intently, she listened into the silence of the building. The only sounds she could hear were her own anxious breaths and her heartbeat that slammed in her ears.

She stood motionless for several seconds, her gaze scanning her surroundings.

Nothing.

Sleep deprivation was probably playing tricks on her, she hadn’t had a proper rest for weeks, her thoughts kept radiating around Lucifer all the time.

She sighed and relaxed, putting her hands in the pockets of her blazer. Steady, she walked on, she could really use a big, strong coffee now.

The winged shadow, that slid across the floor behind her disappeared in the dark surroundings of the parking lot. Unnoticed.


	4. Feelings

The elevator doors slid apart silently.

Lucifer pushed himself up from the cabin wall he was leaning against and strolled into his penthouse. He held his grey-colored suit jacket casually thrown over his shoulder in one hand and, as he passed by his piano, he dropped it carelessly onto the bench.

Absently, he turned to his well-stocked bar, reached for one of the glass decanters on top of the counter and eyed it vividly. The spirituous content lazily swished from one side to the other, as he swung the receptacle slowly back and forth. What if he would honor his Detective with a few bottles of his finest and favorite liquors? Now and then she took a sip of his whiskey, but he knew that she basically preferred an ice-cold beer. ’ _Swanky_ ’ was what she had called his own exclusive preferences once and insisted of being more of a _down-to-earth-type_ of a girl, when it came to clothing and likewise to alcohol.

His jaw muscles grinded slightly as he thought of how she had fled Linda's practice. Luckily, they had driven there in separate cars, otherwise he would have just been let down by her again, a habit she actually had gotten out of. Obviously, she had wanted to get away from him as soon as possible. After her _storming-out_ , Linda had convinced him to stay, interpreting his slightly ajar mouth as a clueless expression. She insisted on talking about _what the hell had just happened_ and most of all _why_ it had happened.

Well, the Doctor did read him right, because the Detective’s words had him taken by uttered surprise. It wasn’t even possible for him to react somehow spontaneous to her confession. Never had he supposed that her thoughts were that disturbing, that irrational. From his side, it was clear as the day that no other woman could ever compete with her. No one else could match her intelligence, her kindness, her warmth, her beauty. Everything was so much better and much more intense when he was with her, he had never felt that way before. Never in his entire, already eternal, existence. The Detective was just unique, special. Nobody was comparable to her. She was _perfect_ for him.

Linda’s eyes had filled with tears after he had told her exactly those words. She had asked him about his own thoughts to Chloe’s fears and worries, and that had been his answer. He snorted softly. What was going on with the women in his life, lately… they tended to react unpredictably… well, at least more so than usual.

The Doctor had explained to him that it would be the right thing to express his feelings for the Detective, that he should try to find a way to _show_ her what he was thinking, maybe with a loving gesture. She knew he couldn’t do it with words, he was so inept when it came to sense and talking about his emotions, but Chloe deserved to know. She _had_ to know.I It would probably take all her uncertainties and fears, which seemed to paralyze her… _carnal desires_ , away.

His thoughts kept circling around Linda's advice. A gesture… He could actually acquire a lovely present for his lo-… for the Detective. He could dedicate her something wonderful, marvelous, something that would show her how he truly felt for her. Oh, how he wished that Linda was right because, otherwise… he'd had no other choice than to _speak_ to her. Bloody hell. A slight shiver ran down his spine.

His eyes wandered over his bar. A present... if only….

After his session with Linda he had walked aimlessly over the Sunset Boulevard looking in several shop windows for enlightenment, but he hadn’t found anything suitable. What would adequately represent his feelings for her? What would show her how _deeply_ he felt for her? And why on Earth was all of this that complicated?

Thoughtfully, he put the decanter he still held in his hand back on the counter and turned towards his piano. What if he wrote a song - just for her? In fact, his passion was _playing_ not necessarily _composing,_ but he could work on something like…

 _Darling, you are my starling_ … hm… or… _Detective, you’re quite attractive_ … nonsense…  

His gaze travelled over the large instrument towards the open doors of the patio as he mused over quite more suitable words for a love-song and… his eyes suddenly widened in surprise. Two motionless figures were sitting on his couch, staring back at him seriously.

"Maze, Amenadiel," he stated, raising his eyebrows. "You honor me with one of your rare visits, brother?” Lucifer turned back to his bar with a swift move, feeling a bit relieved for the most welcome distraction. He reached for three glasses and the previously eyed carafe. Generously, he poured more than the usual two fingers for each of them and balanced the half-full tumblers over to his visitors.

As he was about to plant the drinks on the small table next to Amenadiel, he registered with astonishment, that the glass plate was missing. What the hell? He havered, not knowing where to put his precious freight and circled irritated briefly around his own axis. Maze had pity on him, rose from the couch and took two of the glasses, deftly. She sat down again and passed one of it over to Amenadiel.

Watching them suspiciously, Lucifer remained standing in front of his unexpected guests. Glass in hand, he gestured vague in their direction. "You look like you're hiding something," he presumed. "Let me guess, something naughty?” he grinned. “Did I interrupt a little _tet-a-tet_?" His face lit up and his grin grew wider.

Amenadiel rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed, while Maze sent Lucifer a bitter look.

"No?" he teased. "You make such a _cute_ couple."

His brother stood up slowly, took a step toward him and laid a hand flat on his shoulder, very meaningful. "Luci, Michael’s here," he said bluntly. His dark eyes looked at him with concern.

Lucifer snorted and shook his brother's hand off. "What? Is that supposed to be a joke?" Smiling cynically, he turned to Maze. "Why should Michael ever..." he broke off as the demon rose up in a flash and approached him.

"He’s here, Lucifer. It's true." She gestured at their surroundings. "This is all his work. Amenadiel was almost killed by him and then dumped here like a piece of shit. To warn you."

"Whaat?" Lucifer was still grinning in disbelief. His eyes followed Maze's hand and only now did he notice the scattered bloodstains on his couch, the wide trail of blood on the carpet. His smile died abruptly and his gaze flickered back to his brother, eyeing him thoroughly from top to bottom. "Well, I have to say… considering that you made all this mess… you look very healthy to me."

"He put one of his fucking feathers in his hand so we could cure him with it and _Daddy_ won’t be upset." Maze's voice was almost cracking with anger.

Amenadiel cleared his throat. "Michael wants you in Hell, Luci. He is firmly convinced Father's mission would not have been carried out properly, as you remain unscathed among humans, instead of cheering the fires of damnation... " he broke of as he couldn’t help himself ‘cause of this pictorial metaphor and grinned at his brother.

Lucifer smiled back cautiously. In fact, he never really knew if Amenadiel was truly on his side or if he was already the old, loyal warrior of God. His distrust of him was always present and prevented him from completely lowering his shields near him.

"Why are you both grinning like dorks?" Maze snarled indignantly. "Your twin brother is here. Wants to send you back to Hell. An archangel. The most powerful." She grabbed Lucifer by his forearm. "Michael will not just be after you, Lucifer. He knows about _Chloe_. He knows she’s a miracle."

Lucifer froze. His smile turned in a grimace, as he stared down on the demon in front of him. "Repeat that, Maze," he whispered in a low voice. His eyes flashed red.

 

 

 

**********

 

 

 

"What's up with Lucifer today?" Chloe's ex-husband walked over to her desk and put his hands on his hips.

Frowning, she looked at him. "What do you mean, Dan? Is he... is he _here_?" Nervously she looked around, searching for her partner. Actually, she had not expected to see him again today. There was no new case to work on and she finally had time to catch up some paperwork. Since Lucifer classified this activity as too boring for him he always chickened out when it comes to help her with it. Besides, or _in fact_ – considering the abrupt ending of their session with Linda… why should he be here at all?

Dan sighed slightly annoyed. "I saw him hanging around the toilets first. When I approached him, he stared at me, turned around and just walked away. Without uttering one single word." He shook his head. "The look in his eyes... I don’t know... he has _never_ looked at me like that before, not even when I was jealous and..." Chloe narrowed her eyes and he cleared his throat in embarrassment. "Come on, Chloe, you know what I mean. I thought the times when he acted that creepy were finally over," Dan groaned and slid one hand in his hair.

"Right,” she sighed. “I'll try to speak to him. We had one Hell of a… uh… I don’t even know what we had today… but I should really talk to him about it." Chloe's gaze flicked from her pile of papers on her desk to Dan and back again.

"Trouble in paradise?" He grinned crookedly.

Chloe bit her lips and stood up. She preferred not to discuss relationship issues with her ex-husband, so she remained silent. Without a word she raised her eyebrows at him, her grim expression spoke volumes and Dan’s grin faded away.

"Alright, you know what? I don’t even want to know," he said, turning to his own desk, where his cellphone, which laid next his own files, began to ring just in time. He gave Chloe a last glance, patted her shoulder encouragingly and took the call.

The detective straightened slightly and made her way to the toilets. She tried inwardly to prepare for the encounter with her devilish partner. What should she say to him about the things she blurted out this morning? How was she even supposed to start? With an apology? Really? Should she feel sorry for the fact that she was _boring_ and that she wanted to claim him against all of this drooling ’ _Lucifans’_ , as he once called them… uh… this was so gross, even for him.

Her nervousness increased as the rest rooms came into view.

Maybe Lucifer was just here to tell her what she feared most? Did the fact, that he didn’t approach her first mean that he tried to find the right words to finally admit… she swallowed hard. Fear crept into her gut as she thought about how he would eventually state nonchalantly that he didn’t want to continue their relationship like that.

At this thought, her breath caught and she stopped in her tracks, her eyes fell shut. All the color had left her face. A passing, uniformed colleague looked at her scrutinizingly from top to bottom. Worried, he asked if everything was okay. She winced slightly at his words and opened her eyes. "Uh… yeah… sorry, everything’s fine," she answered, forcing herself to smile. The officer frowned suspiciously but finally went on, shrugging.

Pull yourself together, she scolded herself. Nothing has happened yet. She accelerated her steps towards the toilets.

Looking around, she searched for his lean figure, but couldn’t spot him anywhere. She glanced quickly into the ladies room, after all, you never know… but he wasn’t in there. Turning her head to the left and right, seeing that no one was near, she dared to open the door to the men's toilets either. No sight of him. 

"Lucifer," she whispered in the seemingly empty room and listened for a reply.

Nothing.

She leaned down, but she couldn’t see any feet or lowered pants in any of the cabins. The toilets were deserted, indeed.

Thoughtfully, she stepped out into the corridor and walked on to the staff rooms. The small kitchen was empty as well, no human soul nor any Devil to be seen. She walked over to the vending machines, but he wasn’t there either. Strange.

She decided to shove her worries aside for the moment and returned to her desk. If Lucifer really wanted to talk to her, he would appear - sooner or later. If he wanted to avoid her, well, she couldn’t change this either, but maybe she should text him, asking if they could meet in the evening. At least, she had never been a coward. Whatever he decided to tell her she would face it.

A female officer passed by her desk and grinned at her wildly.

"Your partner looks very _off_ today," she laughed. "He always seems so  dapper with his three-piece suits, but he looks even hotter today without it. If that’s even possible, he is always damn… " The woman fell silent when she caught Chloe's reproachful look. She raised her eyebrows and pressed further. "You two _are_ together, aren’t you? I mean… there were rumors, but I could have sworn...."

The Detective's eyes sparkled dangerously and she glared at her colleague with raising anger. The woman literally ducked her head and absconded, she didn’t want to mess with Decker, everyone knew she was tough. Regardless, she glanced at her with a last lewd grin, before she walked away briskly.

Chloe narrowed her eyes and looked after her. The new relationship status of Lucifer and her was obviously no secret anymore, even though she had tried to hide it as long as possible. Although her satanic partner was very popular here, there were still a couple of colleagues who considered him too cranky and too fancy to be a civilian consultant. Additionally, there were many, many Detectives or Officers who ogled him and tried to hook up. Last but not least, there was her own past relationship with Dan… countless reasons for not blurting out that they were a _thing_ now.

The Officer’s words slowly seeped into her consciousness and finally managed to stop her train of thoughts.

Wait - what? Hotter without… what?

Confused, she started to look around for him once more, scanning the same spots for a second and even a third time, but she couldn’t find him anywhere again.

Oh, to Hell with him and to Hell with her own stupid feelings! A lot of work did actually wait for her, lying on her desk, she didn’t need this constant distraction. Vigorously, she stalked back to her work place and forbad herself to think about him for the next few hours.

 

 

 

**********

 

 

 

Lucifer paced up and down. His hands were clenched into fists and his mouth was tightly pressed together. His eyes didn’t glow anymore, but he still radiated something dangerous and threatening. Dark energy seemed to pulsate around him, it had been a long time since he had emanated such otherworldly – devilish – vibes.       

Amenadiel leaned against the piano and watched his brother in silence. With one ear he listened to Maze's ongoing phone call with Chloe, with the other he could hear a barely perceptible growl coming from the Devil, now and then.

The demon finished her talk and glanced at Amenadiel. There was a deep concern in her features. She took a step toward him, intending to tell him something as Lucifer all of a sudden jerked around. "What is it, Maze?" he snapped. The dominant power he radiated seemed to occupy the entire space, filling every corner of the penthouse. The air in the room became increasingly warmer and thinner - his growing wrath palpable. It was nothing new to her, seeing him this way but still, there was something different in his behavior, causing her to lower her head in a submissive gesture.

"She's fine and she's on her way home," she answered in a low voice. Her gaze remained on the floor as she spoke up again. "Decker said you avoided her the whole day long and she wasn’t very happy about it. I'd even say she's pretty pissed and I’m… I’m pretty worried about it."

"Why… of course, I didn’t speak to her. She stormed out of Linda's practice without me, I told you Maze. So, what is it, spit it out," his voice dropped to a threatening whisper.

Amenadiel straightened up. His eyes flickered from Maze to Lucifer. Should his brother raise his hand against his demon, he would intervene. He knew the two could would be almost equal when it came to a fight, but that was before Luci had his wings back. Moreover, all of this growing ire… Maze might need his help if his brother decided to vent his wrath on her. After all, she was his demon and he was the former Lord of Hell, the thin line between his well-adjusted new persona and his ferocity, shaped for eons in very dark places, was about to snap – he could sense it.

Maze still avoided to look directly into Lucifer's eyes. "Decker whined about the fact that you shunned her _this afternoon_. In the department. People kept telling her that you were wearing unusual clothes. Dan complained that you almost fled from him. You. Were.There," she hissed.

Lucifer towered over her. "What? No…" he snarled.

Amenadiel stepped between his brother and his demon. "It's as we feared, Luci. Michael must have spied on her." He placed a steady hand on his shoulder. "But, obviously, he didn’t _do_ anything, Maze said she's driving home right now. He didn’t bother her." He locked eyes with his brother, trying to calm him down a bit.

"Not yet. He didn’t _touch_ her, yet" Lucifer hissed again and stared at him with wild eyes.

"We will protect her, Luci. I promise you by all means!" Amenadiel grabbed his shoulders encouragingly. "Chloe will not get hurt." He put all his powers of persuasion into those words.

Lucifer blinked slowly. "You... you actually mean that, right?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes, Luci. I am serious." The elderly sincerely smiled at his brother. "Chloe is a good person and she is your miracle, Luci. Of course, nothing should ever harm her."

"We have to guard them, around the clock, 24 hours. Decker _and_ her offspring." Maze had lifted her head again and looked between the two back and forth. Her eyes rested for a moment on Amenadiel's face. She was nearly grateful for his intervention, but surprised too. He noticed her looking at him and grinned disarmingly. Shaking her head, she turned back to Lucifer. If she wouldn’t know better, she would think that this idiot was flirting with her.

The demon crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Lucifer you should be with them, you can drive -no, better fly there, that's a lot faster and..." she stopped as he turned around with a loud sigh and began to pace again.

"As the Detective and I are not on speaking terms at the moment, I’m afraid she might not welcome it if I just show up" he muttered, his fingers running through his hair.

"Alright, but if you tell her about Michael she will surely be glad that you are going to protect her..." Amenadiel stopped and drew in a sharp breath as he realized what his brother was up to. "You don’t want to tell her," he added flatly, shaking his head.

Lucifer gave him a quick look.

Maze laughed in disbelief. "No. Come on, you can’t be serious." She grimaced. "Decker is a big girl, Lucifer. She’s accepted that you are the Devil. She won’t crack if she finds out that you have a fucked up twin, believe me," she sneered.

Amenadiel put his hands on his hips and nodded in agreement. "She's right, Luci. You _have to_ tell her, she _has_ to know, it would be absolutely stupid-..."

"No!" rumbled Lucifer, his eyes flashing red. Flames danced behind his pupils as he took a step toward the two.

Maze visibly flinched and Amenadiel rushed forward, sheltering her from his angry brother. "Oh, stop it," she hissed annoyed at the former angel. "I'm a demon, I don’t need a big, strong, handsome..." she bit her lip as she saw him grinning at her words and winking at her.

Lucifer snapped his fingers. "Hello? I don’t know what's going on between the both of you and why _the bloody hell_ it's about to happen _now_ , but could we please focus again on the fact, that my… the Detective needs protection, without telling her about the existence of this sod at all?"

Maze glared at each of them and then turned around. She dropped on the couch, brooding.

"Why not just telling her, brother?" Amenadiel asked softly. "You know it would be wise to do it."

Lucifer let out a heavy breath. "The Detective spent a lot of energy on overcoming to know the truth about me – us. Weeks, brother. It took weeks before she spoke to me again. Weeks, in which I didn’t even know, if I had lost her forever..." he broke off and pulled on his hair. "She's still struggling with some, let's say, _side effects_. I'm afraid that if I have to confess that another brother of mine might be after her... well, I... what if... "his voice broke and he looked down.

"Okay, Luci." Amenadiel patted his shoulder consolingly.

Maze threw her hands in the air. "Alright," she snorted indignantly, "before you ask - okay. Oookay.  _I_ 'll be her bodyguard tonight and I promise, she won’t even realize I'm protecting her, though. Maybe I could… yeah, I think that would work…."

"Maze?" The two brothers asked curiously at the same time.

Thoughtfully she tapped her chin with her forefinger. "You know..." her face lit up, "…I think it's time for a girl's night out," she grinned. She stretched her arms over her head and lay them flat over the back of the couch. She nodded smugly to the devil and the former angel. "Party time, guys."

 

 

 

**********

 

 

 

Ella sipped on her drink through her straw. Very loudly. It was already her third cocktail tonight, some overly sweet pink colored drink with cherries in it. It tasted wonderful, almost _sinful_ and she started to feel good - _really_ good.  _Lightheaded_ hit it even better. What a great idea to have another tribe night with her besties. And Maze.

She studied the bounty hunter sitting across from her with interest. Sure, she was a vision in black leather, what else. Her pants were as tight as a second skin and her top hardly covered anything. Ella grinned. That was so Maze. Somehow she liked that ’ _bad-ass-look_ ’, even though it didn’t fit her own taste, but this woman was so fascinating. Gleefully she struggled to her feet, burped and patted the shoulder of her vis-a-vis.

"Dancing. Us two. Now," she called over the noise in the nightclub and threw her hands in the air. Invitingly, she rolled her hips to the beat of the music.

Maze grinned amused and looked her up and down. The little forensic scientist had turned out to be a real treat. Her normal, boring outfit had been replaced by a short skirt and a tight bodice and emphasized her well-trained figure. If she wasn’t on duty de facto... her gaze travelled over to Decker, who had pressed her lips to Linda's ear, trying to tell her something.

The two of them had talked almost he whole evening with each other, she could really guess about what, or rather, about _who_ their conversation was about. Chloe's first drink was still untouched, apparently, she wasn’t in the mood for a party.

It had taken a lot to persuade the Detective to go out and spend the evening in LUX. Decker’s alternate suggestion, to hook up at home with the others instead, Maze hadn’t wanted to agree. Dan didn’t have time for Trixie today, he caught an extra shift. Chloe had tried to use the hell spawn for an excuse and she really said – really – that they could play a game together, instead of heading to a nightclub. Yeah, as if.

Maze had personally picked up the phone and hired a babysitter for Trixie. She would keep the little offspring away from this angelic arse. Michael could invade Decker's apartment and Trix’ could get caught in the middle of this shit, so, staying at home had been no option. Never. Angrily, she bit down on an ice cube that she had rolled in her mouth.

This cunt would definitely follow Decker, so it was the best to lure her away from her home. She had arranged with Lucifer that they steered the girls to LUX and then the Detective had to go up to the penthouse to be guarded for the rest of the night by her devilish sweetheart. Maze herself would rush back to Chloe's apartment to protect Trixie, ‘cause you never know. Until then, Amenadiel secretly watched over the child and her babysitter.

Lulling Decker into switching places from LUX to Lucifer’s penthouse would not be that easy, as she was obviously still irritated and annoyed with ’ _his’_ behavior this afternoon. So, Maze planned to get her drunk first and afterwards convince her to pay her devil a visit. As a side-effect she hoped that they would finally hit the sack too. That would break that damned tension between her ex-roomie and her ex-ruler.

But… Decker kept talking instead of drinking and Maze feared her plan going down the plughole. Oh, nope. She wouldn’t allow that. A diabolical grin spread over her face, as she pulled on Ella's pink tank top which had a glittering unicorn on it. The demon curled her index finger and the forensic scientist stopped her circling hips, leaning down curiously to the bounty hunter.

"Why don’t you ask Linda if she wants to dance? She has awesome moves, but she doesn’t dare to show it. You know..." she grimaced, "...shy."

"Awww." Ella was full of understanding and compassion. "Even the pros have their problems, right?" Her lively, dark eyes flickered over to Linda. She winked conspiratorially at Maze and reached across the small black table for the therapist's hand.

"Fancy a dance, Doctor Feelgood? Let's show them how amazing two medically trained nerds are able to move," she shouted. Her warm smile made it almost impossible for Linda to turn her down.

"Uh, okay?" she called back, a little doubtful. She nodded briefly to Chloe, then slipped forward on the bench of the booth to get up. Her short white skirt almost glowed in the shaded light of the nightclub as she followed Ella's whipping ponytail out on the dance floor.

Maze high-fived inwardly with herself, turned to the bar and raised a hand at the bartender. Only seconds later, a new round of drinks showed up at the table. Another pink drink for Ella, a whiskey for Linda and two beers, followed by two tequilas for Decker and herself. The demon grabbed her bottle and cheered to the Detective, who rolled her eyes.

"Why do I get the feeling that you try to get me drunk, Maze?" She moved closer to the demon and roared into her ear. "That's not another messed-up thing for Lucifer, is it?"

Maze cupped her ear and winced. "Gee, Decker, turn it down. Demon, remember?" She pointed up and down at her own body. "I can hear you, no matter how loud it is in here, and - nope. Lucifer doesn’t even know that we're here," she lied, without batting an eyelid.

Chloe grinned apologetically for a brief moment, then she sighed loudly. Maybe she should just try to relax and enjoy some drinks. She already felt guilty about Linda and bombarding her for hours about her worries and fears. Maze was right, time for some distraction. She grabbed the shot and downed her tequila in one gulp. Then, she straightened her short black skirt and tugged at the neckline of her loose-fitting, also black blouse. The outfit was not too uncomfortable, but still adequate for the fancy nightclub, so she chose it. There was no time for shopping, and besides, her pride got in her way too. She didn’t own a glamorous wardrobe, so what, but her clothes were still good enough.

A little more relaxed than before, she leaned back, overlooking the dance floor. She took a long sip from her beer and noticed that Ella waved at her, giddy. The little Latina danced around Linda in smooth, sensual movements, it was really fun watching her. The therapist swayed more elegantly to the music, swinging her hips and clicking her fingers. The two made a gorgeous picture together and Chloe cheered with her bottle to Ella, her smile brightened as she started to wind down, finally.

Maze grinned contentedly as she watched Decker emptying her beer bottle. She hastened to order another round. Oh, how she loved it when a plan seemed to work out.


	5. Confusion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go with a new chapter and a little twist in the story.  
> A big -thank you- to everyone, who is still up for a read.  
> A very, very big -thank you- to my extraordinary beta, who teaches me so much and is still willing to help me. You are so amazing.

 

 

Lucifer's eyes searched his nightclub.

Actually, he had wanted to wait upstairs in his penthouse, until Maze popped his... the Detective... in the elevator to finally hand her over to him so he could literally tuck her under his wings for protection. But, unfortunately one of his business partners celebrated the closing of a very successful deal here and now. About half an hour ago, he had received a call from one of his staff members that this big fish had shown up and, in order to maintain decency and politeness, he had decided to join him downstairs in LUX. Greetings, a drink on the house - nothing more and nothing less but enough to value his visit.

His gaze kept flickering over the dancing crowd, while his nerves tensed up. The Detective would probably want to talk to him after what had happened today. The bloody therapy session that hadn’t been able to lessen her insecurity. He was quite sure that he couldn’t avoid speaking to her about his feelings, or something horrible like that, at all.

Due to the fact that he still hadn’t the slightest idea how to act at his best around her and that he still hadn’t got a fitting present, relating to Linda’s advice, he was still on the edge. The latest news from Amenadiel and Maze had put his thoughts about their relationship on hold - right now, the most important thing was to protect her from this winged scum, but as the night went on and as their _reunion_ moved closer… oh bloody hell… what this woman did to him….

Gritting his teeth, he pondered how he could persuade her to stay with him tonight, or rather _overnight,_ without giving anything away about his twin. He had to avoid arousing her Detective instincts, but he didn’t quite know how to do it. The less she knew, the less her thoughts would be turned in the wrong direction and she wouldn’t be forced to reconsider this whole relationship thing with him. He couldn’t allow this to happen, what would he become without her….

His chest tightened painfully.

It was such a pity, that he couldn’t use his devilish powers on her and worse, she had always been immune to his absolutely stunning physical attraction, as well. The Detective was such a stubborn human, now she even managed not to give in to her _own_ desires. Never had he met anyone like her before. At this thought, a proud grin brightened up his whole face.

His breath caught as he finally spotted her in the crowd of all these pleasure-seeking patrons. She said something to Ella and Linda, then unexpectedly threw her head back and laughed out loudly. Her dark blond hair swung back over her black blouse and bared her lovely neck. He swallowed.

She was amazingly beautiful and above all, she was _his_.

Some brats glared at her with definitely hungry looks and he frowned.  A thick cloud of anger suddenly rolled in, clouding his vision causing him to see nothing but red as he squinted and clenched his hands into fists. When he saw that Ella took his partner by the hand and lead her in the direction of the restrooms, his tension eased a bit. He looked after them and noted to his reassurance, how Maze followed them unnoticed. Relieved, he breathed deeply in and out.

Time to get on with his own business. The meeting with his fancy partner shouldn’t take too long and Maze had not given him any sign that the _tribe-night_ would soon be over. He grabbed a wine glass from the tray of a passing waitress and slowly made his way to one of the VIP booths.

 

 

 

**********

 

 

 

Chloe studied her terrible flushed face in the mirror. The bright light from the restroom did nothing to flatter her, she could clearly spot the dark circles under her eyes, while the rest of her features were far too pale. She wore very little makeup - apparently a tragically incorrect decision.

"You look awesome, no need to look so down!" Ella sashayed to the sink beside her and winked. "I'd even say you look _stunning_ , girl and if you plan on visiting _you-know-who_ in _you-know-where_ , he'll surely eat you up in an instant." She wiggled her hips obscenely and smirked.

Chloe rolled her eyes. She'd buckled tonight, giving her secret about her new relationship with Lucifer away. Maze and Linda had already known about it, so why unnecessarily exclude Ella any longer? Well, now she remembered quite well _why_ she hadn’t wanted to tell her in the first place.

"I have no intention of invading his penthouse... urgh… no, really not." She could hear how unsure her words sounded and therefore she didn’t wonder a bit about Ella's raised eyebrows. "Uh... I meant... not that I actually don’t want to _see_ him... because, I really _would_ like to... but..." her voice faded as she saw the Forensic Scientist's smug grin.

"I somehow totally understand your fears, hey – _sooo_ handsome and all of it, but – still… just go and grab’em. Why has it always got to be complicated? You want him and he wants you. The sexual tension between you two is huuuge, so get it over with, finally." Ella patted her encouragingly on the back. "Just close your eyes and jump! As my aunt Inez tended to say - _risk taken, earned bacon_." Meaningfully, she wiggled her eyebrows.

Chloe closed her eyes briefly and swallowed hard. She should probably follow the advice of her friends. Linda had repeatedly suggested her to overcome her fears, to just _try_. Either everything went quite perfect or... the heck with it.

In any case, _something_ would happen, because she couldn’t go on like this. This stand was Hell on Earth, she wanted so badly to take the next step. Whether it would lead her into the abyss or into Heaven.

She took a deep breath and smiled at Ella. "You know what, you’re right. All of you are right. But, " she quickly raised a finger to forestall the forensic Scientis's anticipated stream of words, "I’m begging you, let's drink a few more shots before I lose my nerve. I could really use some more… uhm… back-up."

"Wohoo!" Ella held out her hand for a _high-five_. "Who will get laid tonight?" she exclaimed, laughing loudly. Chloe sighed and shook her head. "Yes, girl!  _Deckerstar_ is finally happenin’!" The Latina cheered exuberantly, grabbed Chloe’s hand and dragged her back to the nightclub.

 

 

 

**********

 

 

 

An hour later and accompanied by her revel _tribe-members_ , Chloe stumbled a little awkwardly into the elevator that led up to the penthouse. Together, they had drank a few rounds of tequila shots, before she finally found enough courage in herself to… _haunt_ Lucifer.

As Maze was up to follow her straight into the cabin, Ella and Linda quickly intervened. They took a hold of the demon’s arms, restrained and scolded her. In their eagerness to prevent her from playing the unnecessary escort for Chloe, they stumbled over their own words, as both tried their best to explain to her how rash she acted. Nothing should stop Chloe's attempt to seduce Lucifer at last and certainly not a scowling bounty hunter by her side.

Maze was hard to convince to stay behind. Like a burdock, she had been sticking to Chloe's leg all evening, a fact that at least Linda had noticed and feverishly she searched for a clue to prevent the demon from maintain her strange behavior towards the Detective. The Therapist resorted to demanding Maze’s attention. She put her hand around the Demon’s waist and whispered in her ear that Chloe wouldn’t trip over her own feet in the ten second ride of the elevator and she insisted on having another drink, _now_ , with or without her. Maze looked at Linda’s slightly wavering frame and finally gave in.

She didn’t want to leave Linda unattended either, not when she was this tipsy. Shrugging, she followed the Doctor back to the bar. They were right; Chloe would be safe in the elevator.

Ella declared to call an Uber for her ride home, she really needed her cozy bed and now, that everything was on the right track, she could leave the other three girls to their fate. She had drunk way more than intended, she had laughed, danced, and – most of all, she had done a very good deed. Chloe would excel tonight, ahhh - she was so proud of her. Grinning, she waved her Goodbye to Maze and Linda and made her way outside, again and again hugging random strangers in her joy.

Maze grimaced as she looked after the Latina. This woman was way too naïve and friendly. Not necessarily an advantage in a nightclub… nah, not really. She tried to keep the Forensic Scientist in her field of vision and watched her pulling out her phone. The demon left the bar and nodded to one of the bouncers. With a few gestures she signalled the tall and well-built man to keep an eye on Ella, as she waited outside for her driver. You never knew.

"What did you do, Maze?" Linda asked, as she sat down on a barstool. The Therapist was obviously more drunk than the Demon had noticed before, but managed to order two tequilas in an instant. The doctor grabbed her fresh drink, fingers shaking and spilled some of her booze on the counter.

"I made sure that our cute little unicorn-fan doesn’t get molested," Maze replied, putting her own shot to her lips to drink. She almost choked when Linda pounded her on the back, surprisingly hard.

"This is my Demon," lolled the Therapist. "More feelings in you than you would like to admit, huh?" She chuckled foolishly and then got serious again. "What I've wanted to ask you for a while now, Mazzzze... is there still anything going on between you and Amenadiel?" She raised an index finger and punched Maze’s leather-covered thigh. "We are getting along sooo good lately and he's such a great man... stop... angel... nope… former angel, but I don’t know…. After that horrible… you know… my run in with the Mother of his Creation... uh… the Creation of his Mother... shoot… his creative Mother." She frowned as she couldn’t find the correct phrase. "Anyway. Shall I start something with him? He’s sooo beautiful and his voice…." She swayed slightly and put her hand on Maze's forearm to steady herself.

Maze rolled her eyes. It was time to slow down before the Doctor dropped from her stool. Besides, she absolutely didn’t want to discuss her own complicated relationship with Amenadiel. Not today nor at any point in the near future. "A glass of water for her and forget my previous order - no more alcohol!" she shouted to the bartender and grabbed Linda’s new drink, before she could take it. A few hours ago, she had instructed some of the staff members to refill them constantly and unsolicited. That had to stop immediately.

Quickly, she dumped the shot and ignored Linda's angry protests. The Therapist grunted and threatened her playfully with her forefinger. Her stool tilted dangerously to the side and Maze propped her up again. She took the glass with water and held it under the Doctor’s drunken nose. These humans, so fragile… awful….

 

 

 

**********

 

 

 

Chloe stood on one wobbly leg, struggling to get rid of her stupid shoe. Her muzzy brain tried to cling to her plan to strip down to her underwear right in the elevator, to step into the penthouse like an alluring dream come true and to grab the Devil by his horns. Or rather _one_ horn, she thought and giggled. She stumbled slightly and tried to push herself up against the wall of the elevator.

Why did this damn shoe stick to her foot like glue? She started hopping around, but unfortunately, she lost her balance and leaned back heavily against the elevator doors, which chose exactly this moment to slid apart.

"Huh?" she startled as she fell on her butt. The polished, dark stony ground would leave a few bruises on her backside, that’s for sure.

Groaning, she rolled onto her stomach and looked around hastily. Did he watch her clumsy entrance? Oh, please no - that wasn’t the show she wanted to perform, no – not at all. 

Thank… Devil, there was no trace of him. She reached for the counter and pulled herself up, panting heavily. O-okay. She was back on her feet. She could go on.

Awkwardly, she hobbled a few steps before she realized that it would be a way better to get rid of the second shoe as well. To her relief, this was an easier task than the one before and she just stumbled a little bit, while her knee hit the piano. Everything’s all right. Nothing happened. She didn’t fall down again.

"Luucciifffer," she whispered into the seemingly empty room. Where the Hell was he? Slightly disoriented, she clung to the instrument, searching for a trace of her _lover-to-be_.

"Where’sss my sssweet little Devil?" she slurred, a little louder this time.

A muted sound wavered through the air, coming from the patio.

Aha! There he was… her object of desire.

She pushed herself away from the piano and staggered towards the open doors. Her plan was still highly important and so she tried to swing her hips in a very sexy way, just to be stopped by the couch, which had obviously moved place and got in her way. Her arms flailed wildly, as she tried to keep her balance, again.

_Fuck._

Pull yourself together, she scolded herself. Seductive. Come _on_.

She grabbed the armrest of the furniture, taking a deep breath. Then, she straightened upright and stalked the few remaining steps to the glass doors, where she held onto for dear life, swaying in the light breeze of the night, like a boat on a stormy ocean.

"Hey, Baby," she whispered in a low erotic voice to the lean, dark silhouette that sat in one of the patio chairs. "’id you misss me?" Her hair fell forward as she tried to push her chest up, tempting him to look at her boobs.

The outdoor lighting wasn’t on, she could only vaguely recognize him. He didn’t move, but she could see his eyes shining in the pale moonlight. His hands were tightly crossed over his chest and not the tiniest sound came from his lips.

He exuded a cool disapproval that disturbed her a little… but, nope, she wouldn’t let one of his strange whims distract her tonight. Her final goal was clear, she wanted to have sex with him - incredibly hot sex. Like all these ex-lovers, which she interrogated once. What did they call it? The best night of their life.

The hell... she wanted that too! She was more than ready for this!

Chloe stalked toward him. "Come hither, give ‘our Detective a kisss," she giggled and leaned forward. She tried to tip his nose with her index finger, but missed it awkwardly and struck him in the eye instead. "Upppsssss," she lolled apologetically as he made an indignant sound.

Ignoring his obviously irritated behavior, she climbed onto his lap and threw her arms around his neck. He still didn’t move, no, in fact he managed to become stiff as a wooden board under her… and by all means, not even in the right places…. 

Tsss! Why had she to do all the work on her own?

Impatiently, she ran both hands into his hair and pulled his head closer. Again, she ignored his surprised gasp as their lips collided hard.

Oh, how she missed that. Not even twenty-four hours had passed since their last kiss, and yet she felt like it had been an eternity. She was clearly addicted to this man... huh... this Devil.

Somewhere between kissing him with fervor and running down her hands over his jawline, she noticed that he braced himself defiantly in the chair, his fingers clawed in both armrests during her attack. His skin was strangely cold, usually he radiated much more heat and Chloe back-pedaled for a tiny moment. 

A very tiny moment.

Whatever, she shrugged. She was hot enough for both of them tonight.

She sucked on his lower lip, greedy to taste more of him, feel him but he still remained aloof. A frustrated moan escaped her and she bit down on, not hard enough to draw blood but with passion, simultaneously pressing her tightly against the crotch of his jeans. With a strangled loud, he _finally_ started to move beneath her, chasing her lips with his own.

Her fingers tugged at his curly hair as she pressed him even closer, her hips circling in his lap. The hem of her skirt had slipped up, exposing her long, slender legs. She grinned as she felt his beginning arousal pressing against her thin panties. His hips thrusted upwards and… oh yesss… she gasped.

She could feel the soft fabric of his shirt under his leather jacket and… wait.

Something was odd… shirt? Leather jacket?

Releasing her lips from his, she tried to put some distance between their bodies as she started to figure out that something was actually different than usual, even his kiss tasted different. Her hands slid slowly out of his hair and he made an unwilling sound in the back of his throat. She tried to search his eyes, even if it was too dark outside and discovered that a bluish glow had blended into the dark brown of his iris.

Blue? How... what the hell… since when did his eyes no longer flush red?

Before she could follow her train of thought further, he wrapped his arms around her. A deep rumble escaped his throat as he captured her lips in a hungry kiss, every trace of restraint on his part was suddenly blown away.

_Weeell_ … even if there was something strange about him today, she couldn’t resist and returned his passion, the heat within her stirring up to a blazing flame.

His hands started to roam over her back, along her sides and as he grasped her bum, she arched into him. She was so dizzy due to the many shots of tequila or due to him and his otherworldly charisma, she didn’t know. Her mind rushed into a blackout, the disturbing thoughts from a few minutes ago forgotten.

She moaned loudly as his lips traced a fiery trail down her throat. He started to suck at this sweet spot right above her collarbone... she arched again… her breasts pressed into his searching fingers, which hastily started to unbutton her blouse....

A tremendous roar suddenly vibrated all over the patio and scared the hell out of her. She threw her arms around Lucifer's neck, clinging to him for shelter.

 

 

**********

 

 

After what felt like an eternity, Lucifer finally managed to get away from his celebrating and already very drunk business partner. Generously, he had ordered a few bottles of champagne for him and his entourage - of course _on the house_ – had patted his back and bid his goodbye for tonight.

Time to watch over a certain someone.

With quick steps he approached the bar, where he had previously spotted Linda and Maze. He nestled with his cufflinks as he looked around for the Detective. She was nowhere to be seen, neither on the dance floor nor in any of the few booths and he started to get alarmed.

Bloody hell. He should have kept an eye on her the whole time.

"Where is she?" he barked into the Demon's ear the minute he reached the counter. Maze spun on her barstool and looked at him in surprise.

"You’re here? Why are you... shouldn’t you be up in the penthouse?" A frightened undertone crept into her voice.

"Where's Chloe, Maze?" Lucifer's voice quavered with suppressed anger as he noticed her incredulous expression. Her duty had clearly been to take care of the Detective, his prick of a brother could use every single second without protection to harm her.

"Upstairs. We popped her in the elevator only about ten minutes ago and I... I didn’t see you coming down…. Since when are you—" She broke off and her eyes went wide as Lucifer turned straight on his heels and pushed through the crowd towards the stairs that lead up to the elevator.

The demon shot a quick glance at Linda, who’s head rested flat on top of the counter, her eyes closed. The Doctor had lost her fight against alcohol-induced fatigue a few minutes ago. Maze had intended to carry her to her own rooms, so that Linda could sleep in there, but this was more important now. Without a word, she gestured to the bartender to watch over the therapist and hurried after Lucifer.

She was just about to jump into the elevator before the doors closed behind them. They rode up in silence, Maze could literally feel the rage building up in him, even though he seemed to still be in control. His body radiated such a heat that even the air in the cabin began to warm up. She knew how dangerous he could become and cursed softly. If anything had happened to Decker, she would have to deal with his anger and more importantly... she would never be able to forgive herself.

As Lucifer stiffened  beside her, a deep growl coming from his throat, she knew that she had to expect worse. Her muscles tensed, though she took a loose fighting stance, smoothly pulling her daggers, forged in the fires of Hell. Her opponent was certainly not human, so she switched her usual favorite knives for them.

The doors of the cabin opened and Maze stormed out first, her weapons raised, ready to attack. Her fighting skills kicked in and she looked around, capturing every detail in the room in a blink. Strange, she couldn’t see anyone, but Chloe _had_ to be here, somewhere in the apartment. Obviously, she had lost her shoes… _fuck_.

Lucifer stepped next to her, his eyes fell on the two dark red high heels which lay on the ground at some distance from each other and he drew in a sharp breath. Maze shot him a warning look and imperiously motioned him not to make a sound. His mouth twisted into a wolfish grin. With a condescending gesture he made her understand who still held the authority here. Maze rolled her eyes, annoyed.

Their heads turned at the same time as they heard a loud groan coming from the outside. Both froze instantly, their worst fears seemed to have come true.

Lucifer's thoughts raced in his head. Michael was here, there was no doubt about it, he had already sensed his presence in the elevator. Was the Detective actually under his restraint? Had he already hurt her? Oh, Dad forbid if he had done anything to her, he would pay for it. His eyes began to glow and flames started to flicker over his features.

Maze noticed Lucifer losing his composure, he was only inches away from switching to his Devil form, but she paid no further attention to it. Her entire body tensed, and she sprinted off in a flash, the Devil fast on her heels. In less than a second they had reached the open patio doors and....

The demon couldn’t believe her eyes.

She blinked frantically.

Her mind had quite the difficulty processing the picture in front of her. Finally, something locked and clicked in her brain and her lower jaw dropped to her chest. There was hardly anything that could surprise her, but this sight… wow. She would never have expected to find Chloe _snogging_ with Lucifer's brother... the Hell, Decker.

Her gaze flew to Lucifer and the lascivious grin that wanted to form on her face froze on the spot. She flinched as a horrible roar escaped from his breast, recoiling from the walls within and wavering into the air out of the penthouse.

Chloe was clearly startled and instinctively clung to the neck of her supposed _devil-to-be_.

The archangel jumped to his feet in an instant as he heard his brother, the Detective still clinging to him. She instinctively wrapped her legs around his hips as he backed away from the wrath of his twin. Anxiously, she turned her head, her brain still way too dizzy from kissing and all the alcohol, she couldn’t keep up with the events around her.

"Let. Her. Go." Lucifer growled menacingly, taking a step toward his brother. His eyes flickered like the fires of Hell, an unnatural reddish light emanating from his body, illuminating the couple in front of him.

"Why... what...." Chloe blinked hard, trying to get some clarity. She looked at Lucifer and Maze like they were ghosts, her eyes travelling between the both of them.

"Lucifer," she breathed in disbelief. How could he stand here in front of her, when he was holding her in his arms at the same time. When she had just kissed him and….

Something finally clicked.  Slowly, she turned her head to the man who had wrapped his arms around her firmly.

He looked like Lucifer, almost. His hair seemed to be free from any products, slightly longer and curling adorably. He was wearing a short black leather jacket over a plain shirt. Unlike Lucifer's eyes, his radiated the same light as a super luminescent LED; it was a terrifyingly weird sight.

She couldn’t explain why he looked so much like Lucifer. She also didn’t know why he was here nor _who_ he was. But, relating to the offensively hostile attitude of Maze and Lucifer, he was dangerous. Very dangerous.

Goose bumps began to spread all over her body. A frightened sound came from her lips as she became aware of the implications of her situation. Her eyes widened and flickered to Lucifer, silently begging for help.

He reached out to her in an instant, wanted to take a step towards her but Maze held him back. "Stop," she hissed. A wrong move and the Archangel could crush Chloe like a bug.

Michael stared at his brother with cold eyes. "Look, who finally showed up," he spit out. "I came here, but you were not around, brother. It was quite boring to wait for you, until something…" he looked down at Chloe"...distracted me." He took a few quick steps back from Lucifer and Maze, but the glass railing stopped his retreat.

"Let go of her, Michael," Lucifer pressed through clenched teeth. "It is _me_ you wanted, so..." he spread his arms out "... here I am."

Chloe closed her eyes briefly.

Brothers, of course, twins, more so.

Suddenly she realized that this Michael had to be an angel too. Sent from Heaven. He clearly wouldn’t harm her, would he? Lucifer had mentioned once that angels aren’t allowed to kill a human being. So....

Instinctively she began to fidget and tried to free herself from the iron grip of Lucifer’s twin.

"Well, well, well..." the Archangel murmured, roughly squeezing Lucifer's human miracle harder. With one hand he clasped her back, with the other he grabbed her buttocks and pressed her tight against his rock-hard upper body. With a surprised gasp all the air escaped from her lungs at once and she struggled to not blackout. Maybe he wasn’t allowed to deliberately kill her, but if he continued to hold her like that, he would break all her bones with ease.

Everything in her screamed to defend herself against him, to fight, but her trained cop mind gained the upper hand. Sometimes it was better to just give in and wait for the right moment to come. His strength was supernatural, she had no chance to escape him if he didn’t _allow_ it.

Chloe wheezed as she struggled for air. Michael noticed her resistance weakening and loosened his grip enough for her to breathe normally again.

Lucifer had never been so scared in his eternal life. Seeing his Detective helpless in the arms of his odious twin brother robbed him of all rational thought When Michael almost threatened to crush her, something deep inside him exploded.

His human façade crumbled and the contours of his face disappeared, instead his Devil's face stared with raging anger at the archangel in front of him. Flames were reflected in the dark depths of his eyes as he approached his brother with a rumble.

"Amenadiel said you have changed, that you are not evil." Michael watched him with no trace of fear. "But look at you, Lucifer," he hissed, "you're a _Monster_."

"Father did this to me," Lucifer growled. 

Only a few steps separated them from each other, Chloe could feel the murderous heat that emanated from him. Tears came into her eyes as she heard his breath catch at the words of his brother. She tried to say something, tell him that his brother was wrong, that he never had been evil, that he was no monster, that she loved him....

With a sudden movement Michael spread his wings.

"Stay back, Lucifer, otherwise your little miracle could get _hurt_. I’m taking her with me, before I can finally take care of you, I still have to..." he broke off. His eyes bored into his brother's. "Humans are fragile, please, don’t forget this." He warned him a last time.

Chloe felt Michael flapping his wings with a powerful movement and her stomach literally dropped to her knees while her eyes fell shut. 

She could hear Lucifer calling her name, the desperation and panic in his voice hurting her ears the same way as her heart. 

Her eyelids fluttered, but she wasn’t able to open them again. Darkness fell around her and Lucifer's broken-hearted cry finally died away, muffled from the blackness that took over her world in a sudden.


	6. Fear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter for you, I hope you enjoy it :)  
> Thanks again to everyone and to Katie, my one and only Sweetheart!

 

 

Maze struggled with her anger and all the fear that was building up inside her. Her arms hung heavily down her body, her hands still clasping her daggers. She finally shook her head and dropped the now useless weapons. They landed clattering on the ground next to her.

She took a quick step towards Lucifer. He had slumped in front of the railing on his patio, bending over, his fingers tugging furiously at his hair, giving him the look of a complete maniac.

Softly, she touched his shoulder, but he didn’t move – didn’t seem to notice her touch at all. She swallowed hard, took a deep breath and started to shake more vigorously on his upper arm. Now wasn’t the time for a devilish breakdown. 

"Lucifer," she said and gripped his arm harder, trying to pull him up. "We have to call Amenadiel. We need him, we are all in this _together_. We will fight Michael _together_."

He glanced up at her like he had almost forgotten that she was here with him, shook off her hand and clumsily tumbled to his feet. His eyes glowed like red rubies in his furrowed, burned face. Maze was physically aware of all the wrath he felt. The demon stepped back submissively, trying not to provoke him further.

"He took her, Maze." Fingers darted forward, clawing desperately into her shoulders. Burning red eyes flickered over her lowered head and slightly bent posture.

"Michael took her away from me." The demon could literally hear her bones crackling under his iron grip, the pain brought tears to her eyes.

"We'll get her back, Lucifer," she clenched her teeth. "That ass will not raise a finger against her, I swear!"

Her words were accompanied by a hoarse groan as he squeezed her even harder. She knew that he didn’t want to hurt her on purpose, he rather used her as his anchor, as he had done so many times before, so she suppressed the urge to resist him and bit her tongue instead.

Lucifer blinked slightly as he heard her muted sound of pain. Abruptly, he let go of her and staggered a few steps backwards. Breathing heavily, he leaned against the patio railing, trying desperately to get a grip on it. His face flickered wildly between his devil form and his former angelic one.

Maze straightened up carefully and rolled her shoulders, examining. Nothing was broken, after all it had been nothing more than a pinch, she could easily stand more.

"Lucifer," she said in a calm voice, trying to soothe him. "I'm going to tell Amenadiel, now."

She reached for her daggers on the floor and picked them up. Before she stepped inside, she turned to face him again. "You know that I _will_ track him down. Tonight." She nodded affirmatively and moved on.

Lucifer fought with all his might against the panic in him. Maze was right. She would soon trace his brother's trail and they would have a go with this winged bastard. Michael had no obvious reason to hurt Chloe, after all, he needed her as leverage, because in fact, he wanted to get to him.

His hands shook slightly as he patted his suit for his cigarette case. He still kept struggling for composure as he let his lighter snap open. Deeply, he inhaled the reassuring first pull. 

Time to make plans. Slowly he straightened up and followed Maze into his penthouse. His devil face was gone.

 

 

**********

 

 

Chloe shivered as she opened her eyes. Her head ached, whether from all the alcohol or the flight with Lucifer's twin, she didn’t know and most of all, she didn’t even care. She tried to ignore the throbbing and pounding in her temples, blinking hard and she forced herself to _think_. What had happened?

A sob almost escaped her throat as the memories flooded her tormented brain. The pain in Lucifer’s eyes, because of the words from his damn brother… he had been hurt, so hurt and he had screamed her name so desperately. Her heart was bleeding at the pure thought of what he was going through right in this moment.

She sniffed and  tried to swallow the building tears, she needed a clear mind, asap. Check your surroundings, Detective, she commanded to herself.

A single tear escaped her eyes and she wanted to raise a hand to wipe it away as she noticed, that her wrists were tied in front of her body.

Sure.

This tall, bad, strong angel-twin was afraid of _her_ attacking _him_ and used some sort of handcuffs. Incredible. Anger flooded through her body and replaced the angst that had started to take over.

She struggled to pull herself up into a seated position and looked around. Underneath her feet lay a cool, stony floor and huge barrels surrounded her, some of them also towered over her. It seems that she was in the basement of one of these many wineries near LA. It was dark down here, the sprawling space lit only by tiny, single spotlights on the brick vaulted ceiling above.

Blinking, once, twice, she tried to acclimatise to the darkness. There seemed to be a source of light in a far distance, but it was no light in a usual way, it looked too strange and unfamiliar. 

A soft, yellowish glow swept over the walls of the cellar, and she finally noticed that the light was moving toward her. The closer it got, the better she could see the outline of a man and the wings that stretched behind his back. They were as bright white as those of Lucifer, and _they_ seemed to be the source of this unsteady light.

Sudden fear laced her throat. Panicked, she tried to pull on the rope that was tightly wrapped around her wrists. 

So damn tight. _Crap_.

Desperately she brought her hands to her mouth and bit hard on the rope. But the material of her shackles was made of some synthetic fiber and was as hard as steel. As much as she tried to tear it apart, it didn’t help. The only thing that could happen was that she might would lose a tooth. A hearty curse flew from her lips.

Lucifer's brother suddenly moved into her field of vision. He had reached her faster than she had thought and now, he was standing right in front of her, watching her with raised eyebrows.

She swallowed hard, taking in his sight. Her eyes travelled over his white sneakers up to his tight dark blue jeans. An equally dark blue shirt and black leather jacket completed his outfit. The garments fit perfectly to his lean but muscular figure.

It was deeply disturbing to see these clothes on him. Although she knew it wasn’t Lucifer standing in front of her, he _looke_ d exactly like him or… it rather was what he would look like if he didn’t wear a suit for once.

He towered high above her and she had to tilt her head back to look at his face. She swallowed again as she studied the perfect five o’clock shade over his chiseled jaw and his soft, seductive lips. His un-styled hair was lightly curled and slightly muddled in various directions. Her eyes slid to his, she noticed the familiar, long, black eyelashes and the dark brown color. The expression in it couldn’t be more dissimilar to Lucifer but something in his gaze calmed her fears and brought the anger back.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, their eyes boring in one another. To her surprise, he suddenly blinked and broke the contact first. He shook his head distraughtly, as if he wanted to get rid of something annoying.

Hah! First point for me, thought Chloe grimly.

He crouched down in front of her. With an international gesture of peace, he stretched out his palms openly. Suspicious, she squinted.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked in a voice that sounded like Lucifer's.

With difficulty she stifled a rather gross insult that lay on her tongue. "Well… obviously you're Lucifer's brother. Twin brother," she added, trying to sound more self-confident than she felt.

"That's right," he nodded. "I am," he made a very dramatic pause, "Michael." He looked at her approvingly, his expression full of complacency.

Chloe rolled her eyes. Excessive ego had to be inevitably a family issue.

When she didn’t respond to his words, but just continued to look at him in silence, he frowned in confusion. "Did the flight damage your hearing, human?"

"I am still able to hear you loud and clear, thanks for asking," she huffed.

He looked at her incredulously. "Then… maybe you just didn’t understand. I'm _the Archangel Michael_ ," he emphasized once more.

She raised her eyebrows.

Tilting his head, he looked expectantly down at her.

Her eyebrows moved even higher.

Still waiting, he cleared his throat.

Nothing from her.

"Apparently, you are not a believer," he stated dryly.

"I am so sorry that I have to disappoint you so much. Next time, you can kidnap someone who knows everything from the Bible. Maybe you can make a quick Q and A before you decide which victim would be adequate." Her tone dripped with sarcasm.

The archangel looked her up and down and then stood up abruptly. "Are you not afraid?" he asked coldly.

She didn’t know how to answer that question honestly. Of course, she was afraid, terrified even. He was a divine being with unimaginable powers. His intentions were clearly hostile and she obviously didn’t show him the respect he demanded. If _tha_ t didn’t call for a nice, juicy panic attack, then, what else?

Still... she didn’t want to show him any emotion on her side. She refused to give him this power over her.

"Should I be?" she replied defiantly to his question.

He took a quick look at her, his shoes suddenly touching her legs. When he saw her flinching involuntarily, his mouth twisted into an arrogant grin.

"You _are_ scared, human," he stated clearly satisfied and Chloe cursed inwardly about her treacherous instincts.

She craned her chin. "Congrats. That must be so great for you. Here I am, sitting tied up on a cold stone floor, after you abducted me and flew here. You scared the little, insignificant human, how brave of you. Do you get any points somewhere in the sky for that?"

Michael gasped in astonishment and moved his lips motionlessly. Chloe's chest tightened painfully - he looked exactly like Lucifer in that moment.

The archangel narrowed his eyes. He seemed to be thinking hard as he studied her intensely. Suddenly, he bent forward, putting one arm around her waist and the other under her legs. A startled breath escaped her lungs as he jumped to his feet whilst picking her up without any effort.

"What-?" she gasped.

"You're cold. I'll carry you over there." Michael nodded with his chin somewhere into the darkness in front of them and started to walk.

Frowning, she looked at his stone-like face. He held her very carefully, as if she were fragile or… somehow precious, his movements lithe. He probably didn’t want to damage his pawn, she thought bitterly.

Again, her eyes flickered involuntarily over his face, but he kept staring straight ahead. The resemblance to his brother was so overwhelming, a knot formed in her throat and she tried hard to suppress her tears. 

Lucifer.

A part of her hoped he wouldn’t plan anything real stupid, putting himself in danger without overthinking better possibilities, but another part of her _wished_ that he would hurry to her rescue immediately and on the spot.

Like a knight in shining armor.

Yeah, she grimaced inwardly. Come on Chloe, you're not a virgin in distress, she scolded herself.

By now, they had crossed the astonishingly large basement room and reached a small hollow place in front of a low, wooden door. Over the presumably single exit from the vault burned a small light bulb and illuminated a makeshift dorm that looked as if it could come from one of the thousands of homeless people in LA. It consisted of several old blankets and a broken air mattress, the smell which escaped the camp was anything but inviting.

Chloe wrinkled her nose. If the archangel was preparing to lay her on that rag, then… then… she gasped. Without thinking, she threw her bounded hands around his neck and clung to him like a monkey.

Stunned by her sudden attachment, Michael stumbled backward.

"What?" he exclaimed in surprise as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

"Don’t you dare to lay me down on this disgusting, stinking.... whatever… this is," she hissed.

Frowning, he looked down at her.

What was wrong with this bedstead? Clearly, it was much warmer to sit on then the floor. Pfft, humans. He decided to just ignore her words and ducked his head elegantly under her arms, as he grabbed her waist to slowly lower her down.

Chloe's abhorrence of the rag pile activated her instincts in a flash. With a swift and completely unexpected move, she released her legs from his hips, taking advantage of the moment of shifting her weight and forced him to let go of her briefly. The second her feet touched the ground, she pushed him away with all the strength she had left inside her and turned around in a flash.

The angel seemed completely taken by surprise by her maneuver and stared in disbelief, almost forgetting to respond immediately.

Lucky her.

With a huge leap, she was right at the door, pleading to herself that it would not be locked… and… lucky again, she tore it open, running up a short stairway in unimaginable speed. The adrenalin that pumped through her veins seemed to give her an unearthly strength.

Panting heavily, she reached the end of the open-air steps and found herself in the middle of a vineyard. She hesitated for a moment, feverishly considering where to turn to and looked around hastily. There were endless rows of vines growing around the vine cellar. The soft light of the moon barely provided any visibility, she couldn’t see far enough to spot if there was a road or a building nearby.

To Hell with it - getaway. Just getaway. 

Determined, she sprinted off, running downhill, hoping, she wouldn’t crash into one of the wires, that tied up the grapevines to her left and right.

Her bare feet stumbled over the uneven terrain, sharp stones digging into her soles but she kept ignoring them. Hot blood rushed in her ears, her lungs aching with the effort to breath. She didn’t dare to look behind her, she hoped that he wasn’t already on her heels. 

Escape.

Run.

A flapping sound above her.

No.

Her stomach twisted almost violently and a sudden gust of wind catapulted her a few inches forward. Painfully, she fell on her bound hands and bare knees. Gasping and sobbing she tried to get up immediately again, but her handcuffs hindered her and she cursed loudly.

She squeaked in shock, as two strong arms grabbed her waist from behind and pulled her up roughly. Losing her balance, she threatened to fall over again, but the grip tightened even more and her back was suddenly pressed flat against a hard body.

"I haven’t had a good hunt for a long time," whispered Michael huskily. He lifted her up effortlessly, her hands trapped under his arms and her feet losing ground. "That was fun, human."

Goose bumps spread all over her body as she felt his breath on her neck. His nose brushed the delicate skin on her cheekbone and he gently sniffed at her. He pressed his lower body firmly against her butt and slowly, he started to move his hips, rubbing his crotch on the thin material of her short skirt. A fearful whimper escaped her throat.

Instantly, he raised his head and froze. She heard him taking a deep breath and he turned her around in his arms, his eyes searching her face. To her astonishment, there was an irritated look in it and he swallowed hard. Anger flickered briefly over his features and with a sudden jerk he lifted her completely up into his arms.

She squeaked again. Damn it. She couldn’t help herself.

"Don’t worry," he said in a hushed voice as he felt her resistance, "no rag store for you. It's time to change location anyway, before Lucifer's tamed demon will be able to track me down." With a single flick of his wing, he catapulted them both out into the night.

 

 

 

**********

 

 

 

Lucifer stared at Amenadiel in disbelief. "You aren’t going to help?" he groaned.

His brother shook his head. "No, Luci. Like you, I want Chloe safe. But I just refuse to believe that Michael would actually _harm_ her."

Maze hissed at his words and lifted her arm in a flash. Lucifer grabbed her at the last moment and pulled her back before she could punch Amenadiel in the face.

"I can’t understand you, brother. He almost killed you and you seriously think he wouldn’t hurt her? How naïve of you." Lucifer's voice quivered with suppressed anger. With one hand he forced Maze back a few steps and looked at the former angel threateningly.

"Luci, Chloe is a human being. He isn’t _allowed_ to kill her," Amenadiel quickly raised his hand as Lucifer wanted to interrupt him, "and he won’t hurt her either. She is a _miracle_. Your gift from Father. Michael is faithful. No one was ever as loyal as he was," he paused," well... except perhaps myself."

Lucifer frowned contemptuously. "What a great role model you were, brother, for all of us. We always were aware of the importance of following your instructions unconditionally. So proud. So ambitious. God's firstborn. Everyone wanted to be like you, to act and think like you… much better then to be like..." his eyes flickered briefly "...like me" he finished his sentence, full of bitterness.

Amenadiel put his hands on his hips. "Yes. So was I and so was my duty, but look, look where it led me. Where my pride has taken me, Luci. I was the one everyone looked up to, and what am I now?" He blinked and turned his face away.

Maze glared at him. "If you burst out in tears, I'll punch you," she hissed at him.

The former angel gave her an annoyed look and turned back to Lucifer. "I thought I was doing Father's will when I wanted to force you back to Hell, Luci." Exhausted, he massaged his temples. "You know how I was wrong. Michael is wrong too." His posture tightened. "He'll notice, Luci. With every second that passes, he will feel it. Chloe is something special."

Lucifer studied him coldly. "I can’t risk you being wrong again, brother. I can’t risk... Chloe. Maze will track them down and we _will fight_ him." His voice grew louder and louder. "He will regret leaving the Silver City. He will pay for his accursed arrogance. He'll see how evil I am! I'm the _Devil_ , well - I'll show him what I'm capable of!" He almost screamed out the last words.

Amenadiel winced. "I'm not saying you shouldn’t go after him and find them. But you don’t have to fight." He pleaded.

Lucifer bared his teeth. "Maze!" he barked, his eyes boring into his brother's.

The demon literally jumped to his side. 

"Go. Find them," he ordered without looking at her.

A malicious grin crept across her face. "I'll pack some extra weapons," she breathed and in the next second she was gone, eager to hunt Michael like a dog.

Amenadiel shook his head. "What about Trixie? Daniel? Did you inform them, Luci?" he asked softly.

"No." Lucifer's voice was icy. "Maze will find her tonight. We'll fix it tonight. She will be with me again, tonight. No reason to panic anyone. Certainly not the little—" he broke off.

Sighing, Amenadiel approached him. "Certainly not the child. I understand." He patted his brother encouragingly on the shoulder. "I'll think something over," he let go of him abruptly, as he noticed his angry look. "Just in case… ," he added, raising his hands defensively.

He looked at Lucifer sadly for a long time. Then he turned and walked to the bar, they both needed a proper drink, or two.

 

**********

 

Chloe awoke with a loud moan. Damn it, had she fainted again? At least she didn’t have a headache this time. Obviously, it was due to the flight that she lost consciousness every time.

Anger and disappointment rose in her as she remembered the ease with which Michael had captured her again. A new attempt to escape would hardly succeed, she stated soberly, when she opened her eyes and looked down at herself. Her bare feet and knees were completely bruised and… now also tied up. Apparently, he didn’t want to make the same mistake again.

Groaning, she rolled over on her side to look around. She was lying on an empty wooden pallet, a stack of unfolded cardboard boxes under her. The hall she seemed to be in was huge with lots of boxes piled up around her. The neon lights on the ceiling high above her bathed her surroundings in a toxic, artificial light. In the distance she could hear the faint hum of an air conditioner. The warehouse was windowless and gave her no way to tell if it was still night or already day.

Tears came into her eyes when she thought of Trixie. Her little Monkey.

She sobbed loudly as the first drops ran down her cheeks as she wasn’t able to hold back any longer. Her courage was gone, she wanted nothing more than to be with her daughter. And Lucifer.

A soft sound startled her and sheturned her head to the right, in the direction of the sound. Her tears stopped instantly.

Michael sat on the floor of the hall, just a few feet away from her and cleared his throat. He leaned relaxed against a box and studied her attentively. There was something of a scientific curiosity in his gaze, as if she was an unexplored insect that had to be categorized. His wings were out of sight, he must have hidden them after he landed here with her. The warehouse provided sufficient lighting, apparently it was not necessary that he used them as an additional source of light.

Chloe tried to get up and pull herself together. She wouldn’t give up in despair. She was a trained LAPD detective, damn it. Dangerous situations were part of the occupational risk. Kidnapping didn’t necessarily fit into her job description, but it had been partially included in their training. Her chances that she wouldn’t be harmed by her kidnapper rose with every passing minute, she knew this. It was a way more difficult to hurt someone to whom you began to bound and her value as a means of pressure was apparently high. Also, there was the slightest possibility that the angel wasn’t as violent as Lucifer and Maze implied. At least, he was just that. An _angel_ , for God’s sake.

She stared at him, quiet and he returned her angry gaze for a moment before his eyes slowly travelled from her face to her bare legs. He didn’t say a word either, but his jaw muscles clenched heavy. Did he consider tightening her shackles? Did he think about how disgusting humans were to him? She couldn’t properly interpret the look on his face and she didn’t want to think about it further.

To get to eye level with him, she tried to sit up a little more which was no easy task - she wiggled and pushed, slightly embarrassed about the fact that his gaze never left her body. Her skirt slid up to her hips because of her fidgeting and she condemned her choice to wear these clothes just tonight. The cleavage of her blouse gaped wide open and showed much more than she wanted _anyone_ to look at. Her boobs belonged to her alone in the first place, the days of ’ _Hot Tub High School_ ’ were finally over.

Great. A few more times jerking back and forth and she would be half naked in front of this inhuman archangel. Her handcuffed hands prevented her from adjusting her clothes to a more chastity state and she just gave up, unnerved. Exhausted, she dropped against the boxes in her back. Her chest rose and fell heavily.

Michael had watched her efforts with an unfathomed expression, but now she realized, that his mouth had opened slightly and his eyes glowed again in that bright shade of blue. His hands clawed at the fabric of his jeans and she could almost hear him gritting his teeth.

"Cover yourself," he hissed. His eyes flickered over her half-bare bosom.

"Really?" she groaned. "How am I supposed to do that, huh? My hands are tied up." She pointedly held her arms up.

He growled softly and with one smooth motion he was on his feet. Something shifted in his gaze as he slowly approached her and squatted next to her.

With caution, he gripped the fabric of her skirt with both hands and involuntarily touched the bare skin of her thighs. Both flinched at the contact, his fingers were cold as ice, quite the contrast to her legs, all this wiggling had warmed her up. Her eyes fell to his long fingers which stroked gently over the hem of the fabric and her thighs. She could hear him panting, before he swallowed audibly and finally reached out to pull the tight garment down in one fell swoop.

Chloe looked up and realized how close he had come. His face was only an inch away, his bright eyes, which had been fixed on her cleavage, suddenly rose and looked directly into hers. So many different emotions danced in these angelic windows to his soul and her breath caught as his pupils darkened. Suddenly, she remembered how she had kissed him on the patio and her eyes flickered to his lips, which looked as seductive and as highly kissable as Lucifer’s. As his tongue darted out and slid over his lower lip, she could hardly suppress a sigh.

To Hell with this similarity!

"Do you know that I've never longed to touch Father's creation before?" he whispered hoarsely, drifting even closer, his breath almost mingling with hers. "It never had been necessary to do so and why should I have wished for it? Why should I ever have thought about how it would feel… velvet skin underneath my fingers… how it would be like pressing my lips against… yours," he murmured, getting lost in unfamiliar feelings. His mouth lingered over hers and he rubbed the tip of his nose gently against her cheek, inhaling her scent deeply.

Chloe shivered. This _wasn’t_ Lucifer. Even if he looked like him. This angel, kneeling in front of her and now sliding his lips hungrily down her neck, was _unpredictable_. She didn’t _know_ him; she didn’t know what his _intentions_ were. Maybe he was just a harmless celestial or… a ticking time bomb. 

Fear crept into her gut and her lips began to tremble.

"Will you... are you going to… kill me?" she whispered.

He froze for a brief moment and then, lifted his head from her neck. Confused, he looked into her eyes, only to recognize fear in them for the first time. 

"What?" he croaked in astonishment as he studied her intently.

She cleared her throat and tried to sound braver than she felt.

"You know, I can put two and two together and I think you don’t… uh… _like_ humans very much. Do you _hate_ us?" she asked him, inwardly cursing her quavering voice.

The archangel raised his eyebrows in disbelief and leaned back, away from her. "I certainly do _not_ hate humanity," he said, offended. "My Father created you and he _loves_ you."

Chloe was waiting for more.

Michael looked at her in silence.

She sighed.

"Well, if you don’t want to... kill me—" she stopped as he jumped abruptly to his feet.

"Of course, I don’t want to kill you, Ms. Decker. You are a _miracle_. My father would be more than wrathful if I were to raise a finger against you," he exclaimed.

O-okay, she thought with a sigh of relief.

So far so good. 

She looked up at him. His hands clenched into fists and he stared down at her. Uncertainly, she bit her lower lip and she saw his eyes darken again in an instant.

Slowly, he bent down to her again. "I can’t understand why… you have something… I can’t define. Is it because you are a gift from Father? Is there a divine spark in you? " His eyes again flickered over her face, neck, legs and he blinked a few times, shaking his head drowsily, before he finally looked away. 

"We'll see," he stated, straightening up to his full height.

And… back to the goose bumps. She shivered again.

"What do you want from me and why?" she breathed. Her eyes filled with tears.

"Nothing. I don’t want anything from _you_ , Chloe Jane Decker." Gracefully, he squatted down in front of her again. " _Lucifer_ is the one I want. I'll take him back to where he belongs. You only serve me as a lure for him. I needed to guide him to an uninhabited area - I couldn’t attack him in the middle of this city full of humans. Victims - collateral damage - would  be unacceptable. Father would not agree with that."

"But... if…" she stammered " …if you want to face him, why have we changed location, I mean… why didn’t you just wait for him in the vineyard—" her voice broke, she couldn’t continue.

He stared in her eyes. "Well, I have to admit that you are an unexpected puzzle, _Chloe_. One that I would really like to solve before I send Lucifer back to Hell. Something tells me that you won’t just serve me as a bait." A knowing grin lightened up his face.


	7. Doubt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here comes the next chapter for everybody who still follows this plot!  
> Thank you so much, my heart goes out to every one of you :)  
> Chapter 8 will last a little longer, I apologize in advance.  
> Kay_Kay - thanks again for your amazing help, for always having time and most of all, for your kindness and your believe in this story :)

 

 

Maze straightened up slowly. Strands of her dark hair waved softly in the gentle breeze of the night that whispered over the large vineyards. She closed her eyes and raised her head, it seemed she was taking in the smells and sounds the wind carried with it.

Some distance from her, Lucifer stood on the dry earth among the myriad rows of gnarled grapevines. He gritted his teeth impatiently. His demon would track down his brother, he knew that, but he also knew, that she needed some time for the hunt. Even Maze wasn’t able to find an archangel in the blink of an eye.

Nevertheless, his patience was hanging on a very thin, silken thread. Soon, the night would be over, the sun would rise, and it had been already _hours_ since Michael....

Maze abruptly turned to him and interrupted his train of thoughts.

"She ran away from him, but didn’t get far." The demon pointed to a piece of churning ground. "She fell down, here and the track ends right there." Maze looked up into the sky. "Michael hopped off with her. In a damn angelic way." She approached Lucifer, demonstratively flapping her arms.

A painful and yet terrifying scream escaped his throat and echoed across the deserted area. Concerned, she watched him bend over, his tall figure seemed to curl up in a heap of misery.

Maze crossed her arms over her chest. "Look, Lucifer," she started, but he gasped, wiggled a finger at her and cut her off.

Anxiety started to smash over him like a wave as he turned to the wine cellar behind him. Minutes ago, he had searched it himself, but couldn’t find a single trace of her. Only her scent still lingered in the subterranean vault, he had been able to smell it through the sour fumes of the wine barrels - he would recognize her very own flavor _anywhere_.

His heart seemed to burst with fear and worry, his pulse racing. He could no longer think one straight thought; his breaths didn’t transport enough oxygen into his lungs and to his head. What was wrong with him? He was immortal, the Detective wasn’t near, no – so far away from him – and yet, why did his stomach suddenly hurt so badly?

No, no, no.

He had to _think,_ make plans, search for her, find her… _protect_ her.

He desperately needed to hold her in his arms again, assuring her that he would never let anything like this happen again. Bloody hell, why did this had to happen in the first place… it was all his fault. Michael was here for _him_ but why hadn’t he stopped him… why hadn’t he ripped her from his grip? She was helpless… alone… at his brother’s mercy… his Detective… _Chloe_ ….

His knees threatened to give way. He simply couldn’t breathe. Why couldn’t he breathe?

Air, he needed air.

With ragged hands, he tore at his shirt collar, desperately trying to loosen it. The stupid thing won’t suffocate... but he needed….

_THUD!_

His head bobbed violently to the side and for a very brief moment it was as if he could see all the stars he once created, right in front of his eyes.

Astonished, he fumbled for his cheek, which slowly turned red. The blow didn’t really hurt him, but Maze's demonic strength had hit him with an unmediated force and enabled his lungs to finally fill up with much needed oxygen.

"Ouch, Maze," he moaned theatrically, taking a deep breath.

She grinned at him. "Better?" she asked mockingly.

He nodded slowly and straightened up. "Surprisingly yes. Thank you." His slightly shaking fingers smoothed his suit and he took another deep breath.

The demon cleared her throat. "I… well, it won’t be possible to find her _tonight_ , Lucifer." She could barely meet his eyes, while speaking. "I know, I promised, but honestly… you know..." she shrugged apologetically. "Archangel. Difficult bounty and all that." She put a hand on his forearm. "We have to tell Trixie what happened… well, and Dan. You can’t prolong this anymore, Lucifer. Chloe wouldn’t stay away without any reasons, she would be home at least for breakfast, the little urchin will be waiting for her mother."

He briefly closed his eyes and sighed heavily. Tired, he was so tired and first of all, he was so sick of it. This twin bastard.

"Right. I'll call Amenadiel and—" he stopped as she grabbed him firmly by his upper arm.

"No, Lucifer. Trixie is up to you. She adores you. If anyone should talk to her about it, it's you." She stared at him intently.

He couldn’t argue with that, unfortunately he knew she was right. Daniel had been informed about this bloody sitch ( _kidnapped by that deranged brother of theirs_ ) by Amenadiel a few hours ago. Lucifer instructed the former angel to convince Chloe's ex-husband to not pass a single word about the disappearance of the Detective to the little offspring or to any one of his colleagues. He didn’t want the LAPD to start a rescue mission yet. They needed some more time for Maze to find her. Daniel had reluctantly agreed, as Amenadiel argued about _family issues._ For him Chloe’s safety was most important and deep down he knew, that the bounty hunter would be able to trace down their mentally ill brother and his ex-wife far sooner than the police.

But meanwhile, the vague hope of finding Chloe as quickly as possible, had burst like a foam bubble. The search took Maze longer than they thought. The child needed his mother… such dependent little creatures… and she didn’t deserve an excuse about her whereabouts any longer. She had to be initiated.

"Very well," he sighed. He would take care of this matter himself.

Lucifer brushed off Maze's hand and took a step back. His wings stretched behind him to his full length.

"Mazikeen. Hurry up." He tilted his head in her direction for a moment and added, "Find her, please" silently. With a barely audible sound he already disappeared into thin air.

The demon searched for her cellphone in the back pocket of her trousers. She needed wheels. Very, very fast wheels.

 

 

**********

 

 

Chloe narrowed her eyes and looked suspiciously at Lucifer's brother.

After swallowing her pride and pointing out that her bladder was about to burst, the Archangel disappeared without a word. A little later, he was back again but still silent and he lifted her up in a sudden like a sack of flour. She had gritted her teeth so hard that he must have heard it. Getting thrown over someone’s shoulder wasn’t a nice experience and the rough movement almost caused an accident… a very embarrassing accident.

He had taken her to another part of the huge warehouse and dropped her in front of a very filthy door. Wordlessly, he had opened it, loosened her shackles and pushed her inside. The angel had taken position in the open door, watching her with an unreadable look on his face. She had snorted and after delivering a silent gaze duel with him, he had generously been so decent to turn around. Finally, she had been able to pee. What a relief.

There had been a tiny but astonishing dirty sink in the restroom, and she had been able to clean herself up a little and to drink some water directly from the tap. Fortunately for her, there hadn’t been a mirror in that hygienically questionable room, because she didn’t really want to know how she looked like. She could easily imagine what a mess she must be by now.

Michael had brought her back to the pallet and the dusty boxes she had been laying on before. Still staying quiet, he had placed himself a short distance from her on this wooden camp and closed his eyes.

Not a tiny muscle twitched in his body. He looked like a stone built figure.

Sadly, her cellphone had been left behind somewhere in the penthouse and she didn’t wear a watch. She could only guess how much time had passed since Michael flew them to the vineyard and afterwards to this warehouse.

Probably hours.

Or a whole day.

Nah, that couldn’t be… or could it? The silence between her and the angel stretched into eternity.

She eyed him up and down. He seemed to be totally relaxed, his eyes still closed. Nothing threatening emanated from him, unlike the several moments before, he looked just calm and peaceful.

She tried to gather all her courage to ask him the one question that had stuck in her mind all the time. The one question that burned painful in her heart. That made her feel sick.

Now or never.

She took a deep breath.

"Why?" she croaked, barely audible.

Damn it. That was supposed to sound more confident.

The archangel opened his eyes in surprise. Leisurely, he turned his head towards her, his gaze flickered over her face.

"Why - what?" His eyebrows raised in a very smug way.

Chloe cleared her throat vigorously. "Why do you want Lucifer back in Hell?"

Michael stared at her as if she were feeble-minded. "Because he belongs there," he enunciated slowly.

"He doesn’t.  _Evil_ belongs in this place. Evil people or even... other... evil things, but not him."

"He is the Devil," he answered simply. "He is evil incarnate."

She huffed angrily. "I can’t believe this. You're _so_ wrong. Why do his siblings _permanently_ get him wrong?" she hissed. "Who keeps telling you this nonsense?"

He looked at her in amazement. "Lucifer was a rebel. He has _doubted_ our Father. He instigated a _war_. Because of him, we had to fight _each other_. If that's not bad, then what is it?"

She snorted again. "He simply _asked_ for something. He was denied. He's gone nuts." She raised her bound hands in his direction. "I know the story. According to him, none of his siblings got seriously harmed. This punishment was more than inappropriate for what he did. I work in the Law enforcement myself and believe me, your… _Dad_ … did overact. A lot!"

"How dare you?" he hissed angrily. "How can you be so presumptuous and criticize _your God_ , who _are you_ to question his decisions."

"Oh, I dare! And you know why? Because it was _wrong_ what he did to him," she hissed back. "No one deserves to fall like Lucifer did. Damned to live under the worst scum of humanity, I mean, come on! Have you ever thought about who actually goes to Hell? He had to deal literally day and night with all the evil which had ever walked the earth. He was forced to punish them, to interact with them. He had nothing but his demons for _eons_. No one had ever been like _him_ down there."

She spoke in rage. "He was alone. _Abandoned_. His family didn’t give a damn about him. No one ever cared for him after his fall!"

Michael drew in a sharp breath. "We had no need to expose ourselves to his sinister influence," he replied darkly, turning his head away from her.

"Sinister!" she cried. "Jeez!"

Her anger took over her and she straightened up, knelt before him. If she hadn’t been tied up, she would have punched him in the face. This dickhead!

"He is the Dev—" the Archangel tried to spit out again, but Chloe couldn’t hold back any longer. With all her strength she shoved his upper body and he startled, but it was as she had tried to push a boulder. Urgh! She raised her tied wrists in a flash.

"Lucifer! Is! Not! Evil!" she yelled, hitting him with every word against his rock hard chest.

He caught her two handcuffed hands easily with one of his and pulled roughly. Surprised, she slid forward on her knees until she touched his thighs.

"Careful, woman. Do not provoke me." His voice dropped to a threatening whisper.

She was panting heavily. Her chest rising and falling wildly, she was literally on the verge of rage.

"Lucifer is a selfish bastard, he always was and that won’t ever change.  _He_ was the one and only who was ever important to him, nothing else mattered, all the others didn’t matter, he didn’t care about any of them. His arrogance and selfishness are second to none." He tilted his head forward, bringing his face close to hers. "Tell me I'm wrong, _Chloe_."

Her eyes darted to his lips. Shame, she had to admit to herself, that she couldn’t completely disagree. The first time she met Lucifer it had been exactly those features she didn’t like about him, he really brought her on the edge with his attitude… but… anyway... this righteous archangel in front of her was nothing better.

"Lucifer may be overbearing, smug and… sometimes… selfish, yes. But he _cares_ about what happens to others. He is my partner and helps me to solve murder cases. Because of him, I have been able to close every single case since we teamed up. We work _awesome_ together and it is important to him to catch the bad guys. Most of all, he protects the ones he l— " her voice broke and Michael nodded.

"The ones he _loves_? Did you mean to say that, hm?" He grinned evilly. "Lucifer hates humanity, he always envied them." His eyes paced her up and down. "Maybe you are no _gift_ , Chloe Decker. Maybe you are an extra _punishment_ for him," he mused aloud.

Her mouth gaped open. What the f*… seriously?

"Maybe father wanted to show him what it's like, to have an inferior human constantly attached… that he even has to _care_ about this human, because he thinks you are a beautiful wrapped present, although you are not. That can’t definitely be anything but pleasant, this _caring-thing_... you are all so weak and needy..." he muttered.

Chloe gasped. "Lucifer doesn’t have to take care of me! How do you even… for Heaven's sake, I'm not a kid! I have mastered my life very well on my own, even before I met him!" she barked. "He _likes_ to be with me! We became _friends_ before we... uh… to Hell… before we started a _relationship_!"

The archangel snorted contemptuously and she saw red.

"He _does_ like me! I am no burden for him! If he saw me like that, he could have stayed away from me! He doesn’t have to put himself in constant danger because I'm close to him and he becomes vulnerable around me! He..." she held her breath.  _Damn it_!

Michael's eyes flashed blue.

"Finally! I _knew_ that there must have been more about this _miracle-thing_. So, do tell," he whispered, grabbing her chin with one hand and turned her head to the left and right, while he looked at her like a vendee would look at a horse.

"How interesting. You make him vulnerable?" His eyes bored into hers. "And you truly think you're no punishment for him?" He laughed loudly.

 

 

**********

 

 

Lucifer looked at the little human in front of him alarmed.

He didn’t know how to choose his next words to avoid that her eyes - already swimming in tears - finally overflowing. Her little lower lip quivered as she grabbed ahold of his shirt with one hand, searching for support. The sight of her began to hurt him physically. Although he still found her touch uncomfortable, he felt a thick knot forming in his stomach at the same time.

Daniel stood behind his daughter, his hands resting protectively on her shoulders. Amenadiel had told him about Chloe's abduction, but had left out the part with the actual _archangel brother_. No one but the Detective and Linda knew that Lucifer was really the Devil and he wanted it to stay that way.

His eyes swept briefly to the small kitchen of the elegant apartment where Charlotte leaned against one of the cabinets - on the shelf behind her unwashed breakfast dishes. Her arms were crossed in front of her body and her eyes were fixed on the ground. He knew she was still suffering from the aftermath his mother had caused.

She was doing very well, trying to become a better person so she wouldn’t end up in Hell after her death. Lucifer hoped she could redeem herself and was glad she seemed to trust him. He liked the lawyer and it was definitely his family's fault that she was almost mentally broken. Amenadiel and himself felt responsible for Charlotte, they both wanted to make amends to her.

Their mother had never had anything left for humanity. Why she hated humans so much, well, Lucifer had never really thought about that. But her brief sojourn under her husband's creation had almost ended in apocalyptic disaster, and he simply knew that she was completely indifferent to the victims she had caused.

The only person who ever meant anything to her was Daniel, by all means. _Step-Douche_ … oh no, to Hell with this thought. Lucifer shivered inwardly.

Thankfully, his mother was no problem and no danger to anyone any longer. A tiny part of him still mourned the outcome, but the greater part knew that the only right way had been to give her a new universe and let her go forever.

Lucifer saw Charlotte look up. Her big eyes searched for those of Daniel. They had come closer again, they were apparently on their way to become a couple... or were they already one? He really had no idea, but the fact that the Detective and Trixie were in the lawyer's flat, not in his own, seemed to speak volumes.

A light tap on his sleeve brought him back out of his thoughts.

"Is Maze looking for Mommy?" The little offspring asked in a shaky voice.

"Yes," he replied firmly.

Her eyes narrowed. "Good! I hope she’ll get this _*** *** (censored)_!!!"

"Trixie!" Dan groaned, startled. "I don’t ever want to hear such words from you, not even now."

Lucifer eyed the little urchin proudly. 

"Of course, child. I totally agree with you," he said, ignoring the eye-rolling of the Detective. "I know with certainty that Maze will find your mother very soon. Nobody is a better hunter than a demon."

The tears started to flow. He had feared it. Silently, they ran down her cheeks, but not a single sob came over her lips. She just kept staring at him with huge eyes. The knot in his stomach grew larger and seemed to spread to his heart.

Involuntarily, he leaned forward and squatted in front of her. "Nothing, absolutely nothing will happen to your Mother. Maze and I will bring her back to you," he assured.

"Is that a promise?" she whispered hoarsely.

Lucifer nodded seriously. "Indeed, it is," he replied.

"You have to keep promises," she said, and her hand, still on his sleeve, reached for the fabric of his suit jacket as it was a life line. Big tears rolled down her face. Noisily, she sniffled and looked him in the eye, her face was a grimace of fear.

"I will." He put all his persuasiveness into these simple words.

"You’ll bring Mommy back. I know you can do that. You and Maze. You are the _only ones_ who can do that." She nodded firmly, her expression suddenly reflecting so much childlike confidence in him that the knot, which had started to pinch his heart began to dissipate.

"Yes," he said.

Bravely, she raised her chin. Her little, ice-cold fingers slipped from his forearm, and before he knew what he was doing he reflexively pulled her into his arms and held her tight. This little trembling human who reminded him so much of her mother in this moment.

She made a startled sound, momentarily hesitating, but then she threw herself against him with all her weight. Her arms flew around his neck and she buried her head in his crook. Now she was sobbing wholeheartedly, her whole body shook wildly and she finally started to cry properly.

Lucifer dropped to his knees and pulled her even closer. Unknowingly, he rocked her lightly and pressed a kiss on the top of her head. He whispered reassuring words into her hair, rubbing her little back with one warm hand.

Daniel was stunned and damn it, did tears actually come to his eyes? Embarrassed, he put his hands on his hips and looked at Charlotte. She looked back at him with raised eyebrows and a faint smile, she didn’t know exactly what reaction he expected from her. He looked a bit lost and so she pushed away from the cupboard she was leaning against and approached the three of them.

"I believe him as well, Dan." She reached for the Detective's shoulder.

He nodded and looked at his daughter, who seemed to calm down in Lucifer's arms; her sobs were getting lower and her crying had stopped. His hand slid around Charlotte's waist and he pulled her close. She gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek and he sighed.

"I do too and frankly, I even feel a little sorry for the creep who kidnapped Chloe. I don’t want to be in his skin when Lucifer finds him." His eyes narrowed and he laughed briefly, but without any cheer. "What am I talking about, in fact they can do _everything_ with him, I really don’t care."

 

 

**********

 

 

Michael still held Chloe's chin. His eyes moved greedily over her face. "That’s splendid," he whispered. "I just need to wait and when Lucifer finally shows up, I just need to grab him. He has no chance against me." He threw his head back and laughed ugly.

She was overwhelmed with fear. How could she have been so stupid... why did she have to tell him. Tears welled up in her eyes.

Michael tilted his head and became serious again. He looked at her, examining. "If I had known that before... hm, well, Amenadiel seems to have clearly changed sides. Unbelievable that he could keep this from me, even though I almost beat him half to death."

Those casual words frightened her even more and a cold shiver ran down her spine. He had done _what_? Almost _killed_ Amenadiel? How should Lucifer... how could her Devil stand against him, if she was nearby… he would lose a fight... Michael would take him away from her, he would send him back to Hell.

A single tear ran down her cheek and Michael caught it with his forefinger. "Don’t cry, Chloe. Everything is destined. Lucifer's place is in Hell."

Distracted, he licked the salty liquid from his finger. "I'm just not sure what to do with you afterwards. What _was_ Father's plan for _you_?" He released her chin and cupped her cheek.

"Are you destined to stay by his side, hm? Shall I send you to Hell with him?" His thumb stroked gently over her face and down to her mouth, touching the velvet skin of her lower lip. He leaned forward. "Is this your fate?" he whispered hoarsely, his lips grazing hers.

She couldn’t help herself and a soft sob escaped her throat. Her mouth opened involuntarily, and she could see his eyes lighting up again in that eerie blue light before his hungry lips pressed against hers.

His kiss was rough and urgent. His arms snaked around her torso as he pulled her closer to him. He groaned, the sound so deep and manly and so much like Lucifer... for a tiny moment Chloe could have forgotten _who_ kissed her… but she didn’t.

She struggled against his embrace, trying to squeeze her lips. He felt her resistance and hesitated briefly, long enough that she managed to bite heartily into his lower lip. Startled, he jerked back, his fingers darted to his mouth.

Hateful, she glared at him. She probably hadn’t even hurt him seriously, just surprised him. Confused, he stared back at her, his breath heavy.

Carefully, he lowered his hands and let go off her. Irritated, he ruffled his curls and cleared his throat.

"I... I'm not sure why... I can barely look at you without the desire to touch you..." he broke off and shook his head. "When you first kissed me, it was so… overwhelming... I've never felt such a thing before and I can’t stop thinking about it ever since." He gave her a quick look and then stood up abruptly. 

"This time it was... different. You resisted me, you bit me."

Anger flooded over her. "When I first kissed you, I thought you were Lucifer," she hissed.

Perplexed, he stared at her as if he didn’t understand a word she was saying.

"I didn’t ever want to kiss _you_ , you idiot!" she roared. "And if there had been the slightest chance that I would find you attractive, even than I still don’t want to kiss you! You are planning to take away the man I love, you insist that he is evil and you are constantly thinking aloud about the meaning of my existence! Do you seriously think that I like it, if you come too close to me?  _I love Lucifer_!" Her eyes literally tried to kill him.

Michael flinched. He hadn’t thought about why he was so attracted to this woman. His earlier words were true, he had never touched a human before. In his capacity as the _Executor of God_ , he rarely had anything to do with his Father's creation. He was the _Keeper of the heavenly gates_ and _Leader of the heavenly army_.

Unfortunately, in the course of time he had become something like a guardian angel to humans, spurred on by his meager missions that had always served salvation, but basically, that wasn’t his destiny. Much to his displeasure, he couldn’t prevent them from praying to him. Again and again. Like his father, he never answered any of it.

As a matter of fact, he didn’t really care about mankind, what were they against him and his family? But he would always respect his Father's love for them, it wasn’t up to him to think about it further.

Of course, he had recognized and also admired human beauty in his rare visits on Earth, they had been created as an image of the angels and he wasn’t struck with blindness. But they had always been simply that to him. Images. Mirror reflections without any deeper meaning. He had never felt the need to touch or… kiss… any of them. Until now. Until he had kissed her. Actually, _she_ had kissed him first.

Now she didn’t want to kiss him anymore? Him, one of, or if not _the_ most radiant of all angels? He was an _archangel_. He knew how he effected humans. He had seen the gleam and greed in their eyes as soon as they had caught sight of him. But he had always shrugged their gaze off.

So, why couldn’t he stop imagining her sinking into his arms….

His thoughts whirled through his mind as he began to seek meaning behind it all. Emotions flowed through his divine metabolism, feelings he didn’t know and didn’t want to know. His helplessness began to infuriate him.

He gave her a vicious look. "You love _evil_ , woman. How moronic of you."

She gasped. "How many times must I tell you that he is _not_ the evil? He's a good... " she stopped, panting as he jerked his wings wide.

"Let's get it over with," he snapped angrily. "This warehouse was just a stopover, so as not to damage your fragile shell... uh… I… I meant... to find out what's up with you. Time to visit the actual place for our final meeting with my brother. The place from which I'll send him back to Hell.

"You're so stubborn, you don’t listen and you're absolutely arrogant. Honestly, I _can_ see the resemblance to Lucifer, but he is much better than you. Are you sure that you shouldn’t rule Hell instead of him?"

He froze - blinked in surprise - and then laughed wickedly.

"How amusing you are and how brave. Slowly I understand why my brother volunteers to stay near you." His expression darkened suddenly. "Even if he will regret it. You make him vulnerable. You'll be responsible that I can banish him again. He will soon see you as what you really are to him - his poison and further punishment."

His voice became icy. "His time with you is limited anyway. What are you humans other than a blink in our existence? You are born only to die a moment later. Your soul will go to Heaven or Hell after your death. You, as a miracle that you are, will come to the Silver City after your short life on this Earth. One among many. Meaningless. You will never see him again and his memory of you will fade away."

Chloe swallowed hard at his words. She stared at him in horror - speechless and unable to oppose him. Her heart contracted painfully. He was right, in the end he was right. This archangel before her would defeat Lucifer for mortifying him. She alone would be responsible for his recent fall. He would have to return to the place he hated and loathed with every fiber of his being. How could he ever forgive her _that_?

Tears came to her eyes again and this time she didn’t have the strength to hold them back any longer.

She would lose him. Forever. If not today, then at the end of her life. He would forget her. He would forget _them_ and everything they meant to each other.

Her body cramped in pain.

How was she going to endure that? Her heart and soul were bleeding.


	8. Conflict

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I have never been to California or Nevada myself, I apologize in advance, if I didn't portray the landscape right, all my knowledge comes from online-research, please have merci ;)  
> My everlasting gratitude to my wonderful beta, what would I do without you!!!!  
> Thank you for reading :)

 

 

"They’re gone, Lucifer, again." Maze's voice had a slightly nervous undertone.

"Gone?  _Where_ are you?" he asked, trying to stay calm.

"Las Vegas," she answered dryly.

"What?"

"Yep."

Lucifer glanced quickly at the couple in the room and gestured in Daniel’s direction, wordlessly motioning, that he would go outside. He remained quiet until he had closed the door of Charlotte's apartment behind his back.

"Hello? Lucifer? Still there?" yelled Maze in his ear and he flinched.

"Bloody… Maze! Stop screaming, I'm not deaf," he hissed. "I had to leave the premises of our dear Charlotte before I further talk to you. The little offspring has recently fallen asleep, completely exhausted. I don’t want to risk waking her up."

"Wow. I am impressed. Didn’t think she meant _that_ much to you."

"She... she would only start crying again and my shirt has just dried," he replied unconvincingly.

Maze laughed. "Okay. Anyway, Lucifer. I'm here on the outskirts of Vegas, in a warehouse. They haven’t stayed here for long and only recently left."

"Any clue where they… flew to?" Hope crept into his voice.

"Not yet, but give me one more hour. I'll call you again."

Maze hung up and Lucifer sighed deeply.

Patience.

All he needed was some more patience.

 

 

 

**********

 

 

 

 

Chloe peered down into the sprawling valley that lay far beneath her. They had lingered up here for some time now, resting on a small rocky plateau just below ‘ _Coffin Peak’_ , one of a few crests that were part of the ‘ _Black Mountains’_. Somewhere near, there had to be ‘Dante's View’, she was quite sure of it. The perspective from this famous place would rather be pretty similar to hers now, there were many pictures of it all over the internet.

The barren landscape contained its own magic. It didn’t look earthly, if anything it reminded her of a setting on another planet, like it would be used in some science fiction movies. A touch of loneliness fanned the dry plain, which seemed regular trapped by the gentle but rocky slopes of the mountains encircling it. It seemed simply absurd how, not far away from this place, a thriving city with countless casinos could subsist.

She had never been to this part of the national park before, even though she had talked about coming here with Trixie again and again. But… for the last two years she had avoided getting anywhere near Las Vegas and always managed to postpone the trip.

The irony.

Now she _was_ here, after all, looking down on the ‘ _Death Valley_ ’ and she could even see part of the ‘ _Devil's Golf Course’_. How cynical of Michael, to choose this place for his final showdown with Lucifer.

Because off the shimmering heat over the valley she presumed, that it had to be already late in the afternoon or almost evening by now. There were probably just a few people hiking the paths around the observation deck yet, most of them preferred the early morning hours for going on a tour, when it was much cooler than currently. The temperatures in the ‘ _Death Valley’_ could increase to devilish heights, it was one of the hottest places in the world.

Her eyes were stinging, not only from the heat, but from the countless tears she had cried over the past few hours. The archangel had granted her a bottle of water, but she hadn’t even sipped on it yet. In her mentally unstable state, she didn’t even care if her body would get dehydrated or not and she didn’t feel hungry either, even though she hadn’t eaten all day. At least finding an adequate restroom wasn’t a problem so far.

The muscles in her arms trembled slightly as she involuntarily changed her position. The stony ground beneath her was hard and uncomfortable, but even more uncomfortable was the suffocating proximity of the archangel sitting next to her. She tried hard not to touch him and to make herself as small as possible under the tent of his outstretched, shadow-giving wings.

She couldn’t deny that his body radiated a pleasant coolness that kept the temperature under her feathery roof constantly bearable. Her mouth twisted into a grim smile. Lucifer's brother was in many ways the opposite of him and apparently the two were not just figuratively like ice and fire. Lucifer was heat and Michael was cold. 

How fitting.

The archangel turned his head slightly. "It won’t last long now, Chloe. Lucifer is on his way - I can already feel the harbingers of his arrival. The air has started to shift."

His nostrils quivered and she got the impression that he was listening to something. If he was a cat, he would have literally pricked his ears now.

She swallowed dryly. The thought that Lucifer couldn’t avoid a fight with his brother literally consumed her. Constantly, her mind twisted around the things she could do to prevent their confrontation, _what_ she could do to stifle Michael's intentions, but she hadn’t found an answer, she hadn’t found _anything_ at all. Deep resignation spread throughout her.

"Why?" she whispered dejected, closing her aching eyes. "Why do you hate him so much?"

The archangel didn’t answer instantly, but she could hear the gentle rustle of his feathers as he barely noticeably moved, obviously thinking about her question. She turned her head and looked at him. Her eyes caught his, she could see the sky reflecting in his dark orbs, but she couldn’t detect any emotions in them and she looked down again, crestfallen.

A growl, that seemed to come out of his throat caused her to wince in fear. The intimidating sound died away slowly and Chloe closed her eyes briefly again. She heard him taking a single deep breath and when he finally started to speak, his voice was so low, that she had trouble to understand and follow his words.

"Lucifer is - _was_ \- always different from us, he was _selfish_. He never thought of the big picture, his own desires were always more important to him than his own family." His voice trembled. "Samael… well, he and I are - _were_ \- the most powerful amongst the angels. We are _Archangels_. We are guarding the divine light."

He reached out and slowly, he clenched his hand into a fist. His body seemed to vibrate softly, and she felt the cool air he seemed to emanate turn even colder. His eyes lit up intensely and a sweet hum absconded his chest.

Hesitant, he opened his fist again and a small, pale blue flame danced on his palm. Chloe drew in a startled breath. She had the strange feeling of being part of a ‘ _Harry Potter’_ movie... or rather... one of ‘ _J.R.R. Tolkien’_. She watched the tiny fire blazing up… definitely ‘ _Tolkien’_... and if this all wasn’t real, maybe he would utter something like ‘ _my precious_ ’ any moment now….

"Impressed?" Michael laughed softly and for the briefest second, he looked almost happy.

The flame in his hand died out and his expression darkened again. "This little childish shenanigan is nothing compared to the creation of the stars, the Sun, the planets. Samael's task was to devise these things, and he earned much admiration for bring them into existence." His voice turned bitter. "Our siblings called him _Lightbringer_ , because they were so excited about the way he could avail the divine light."

"But their admiration and Father’s approval made him even more arrogant and narcistic," he continued, "and though we are twins and had been created equally strong, he constantly rubbed his _brilliant_ creations in my face. He never got tired of telling me how much the others praised him and how much they liked him. He knew exactly how to endear himself to our siblings and of course, he had the power to draw out their desires too. Everyone _knew_ that this was one of his given abilities and yet, he always wrapped them around his finger with it."

He snorted loudly. "Unlike him, I was always in charge and I didn’t have the time to fool around or _play_. I had to drill angels, I had to teach them how to fight. I demonstrated the capacities of my flaming sword, which was and is _the_ ultimate weapon, fed by the light of creation. Lucifer never really managed to handle his properly. " He shook his head.

"I was also entrusted with the observance of the divine order and, additionally, I also protected my siblings and… even you, humans. What did Lucifer know about such things? He could easily joke around, having fun most of the time. Bragging about his _spherical gas formations_. My tasks, however, were far more serious and important than his, I had no time to simply _chat_ with all the others. I had much more responsibility than him," he spat out in anger.

Chloe shook her head in surprise. Sibling rivalry? That couldn’t simply be the reason for his hate, could it?

"After Father created humanity, Samael became very interested in you as well. He always managed to elope and fly down here _to watch_ , as he stated. No one but him would have come up with such an imbecilic idea and soon, he told Father about his moronic request for _free will,_ like you had been granted with. He was so jealous of you, he wished to make his own decisions, he didn’t want to do anything unconditionally that Father told him to, any longer."

He turned to her in a flash, grabbing her by her shoulders. "How could he? None of us ever doubted our Father before!" he snapped. "We were one unit - all of us! Except him! We... " he broke off abruptly as Chloe gave a strangled cry of pain. His grip eased instantly and his hands caressed her maltreated skin apologetically, for a moment.

"With his stupid desire for self-determination he risked Father's wrath. Since he was so popular amongst our siblings, he had quickly gained followers and he… he must have known to what result this all would lead... he must have known that it would come to a _fight_. He _knew_ father, much better than many others."

His fingers trailed trough his hair. "He wasted not a single second about the thought what he would _do_ to _us_. His family. _Me_." Chloe could see how his hands started to shake.

"I was a better fighter than him, I always had been, since he avoided to practice with it mostly. Furthermore, Father took his flaming sword from him… but… but _I_ ran mine... I... we had him surrounded... I wanted to convince him to go and talk to Father again... but he was so insensate. I was forced... I… I had to _pierce_ him on command and… I… I had to cast him out of _the Silver City_... my own brother..." his voice got lost.

The pain that accompanied his words was devastating and hit Chloe unexpectedly. She was overwhelmed by a wave of compassion - not only for Lucifer, but also for the Archangel at her side.

A dry sob slipped over her lips. She could not take her eyes off Michael's tormented features and the liquid bead that ran slowly down his cheek.

He was sorry. Lucifer's brother had not thrown him into Hell on his own initiative and out of rage or hate. He had just followed orders.

Her hands reached out to him instinctively. She stroked over his upper arm to comfort him and she couldn’t help herself, she raised two fingers to his face and wiped the single tear off his cheek. 

He looked up in surprise, his eyes huge and full of sorrow. In the depths of his dark brown orbs lingered something like... ancient grief.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, her words coming from the bottom of her heart. "For the both of you."

She could see his Adam's apple bobbing wildly as he swallowed convulsively. Another tear streaked down his cheek, passing her slender fingers, which still rested softly on his face. His breath stuttered over his lips and his eyes seemed to be trapped in hers.

Before she could even think of withdrawing her hands, he suddenly wrapped his arms around her body and buried his head in the crook of her neck. She felt his shoulders tremble weakly as he started to cry, and she simply stroked his arm more reassuringly.

In this very moment, she couldn’t be afraid of him. Her fingers slid back over his cramped upper body and held him gently, but tight. She could feel the hard muscles under his shirt. Earlier, he'd taken off his leather jacket and offered it her as a pad, which she had stubbornly refused.

He pressed her closer to his chest and a tiny, protesting squeak escaped her. Immediately, he let go. His hands fell down his sides, but his fingers moved restlessly, as if he didn’t know what to do with them. His lips parted slightly and his eyes flickered over her face, deep wrinkles furrowed his brow.

Chloe looked into his pain filled eyes and struggled with her own feelings. Vigorously, she had to remind herself that this angel was by no means weak. Above all, he did want to fight Lucifer again, this time voluntarily. Her sympathy for him ebbed away, her loyalty and love belonged to Lucifer.

Determined, she pressed her lips together and moved away from him a bit, looking at the landscape below. A reddish glow had settled over the deserted valley - the first indications of a dramatic sunset.

She looked wistfully at the breathtaking beauty of this unique landscape. How would it have been to come here with Trixie and Lucifer, just to enjoy the sight? In a future that would probably not exist anymore. 

Deep despair took possession of her and she pulled her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them in a helpless attempt to comfort herself.

She felt and heard how Michael shifted his body. The fabric of his jeans rustled softly as he leaned towards her. Out of the corner of her eye she could see him tentatively reaching out for her shoulder again, his gaze fell to her lips and….

Tiny stones suddenly rolled down the rock behind their backs and the archangel soared upwards. His wings emanated out of his back in a flash, causing a more than violent gust of wind. 

Chloe was pushed aside, she raked hard over the rocky ground as she toppled over and landed flat on her stomach. She braced herself up in an instant, wiping loose strands of hair from her face, as she tried to see and understand, what the hell happened.

A black shadow appeared out of thin air and fell silently on Michael's back. The angel growled aggressively, his wings moved up and down in rapid motions as he desperately tried to get rid of the disturbing weight as fast as possible. 

Chloe couldn’t clearly figure out what was going on, but she heard a clarion noise and all of a sudden bright red blood splashed over the Archangel’s white wings. A piercing, but triumphant cry yelled over the landscape and drowned out Michael's own loud of pain. Another dark shadow slumped down on Lucifer's brother and his knees gave away.

Chloe tried to crawl away from the fight as fast as she could manage, the spread of Michael's wings was so enormous, she actually feared that he would unintentionally sweep her off the plateau, which wasn’t that large. Unfortunately, she didn’t get far before her retreat was stopped by the rocky wall behind her. Anxiously, she crouched down, her wide-eyed gaze flickered over the scene in front of her.

Again, she hardly could follow the fight, all of the involved parties moved too fast for her human eye, or they were hidden from the angel's, meanwhile very bloody, feathers. The few glances that Chloe caught on Michael's assailants convinced her in her assumption, that it had to be Maze and Amenadiel, who had teamed-up against her kidnapper.

She heard an ugly noise as Lucifer’s older brother and former angel crushed forcible in the rock face. Slowly, he slid down and sagged on his butt. He was bleeding from several wounds and one of his eyes started to swell, but his fighting spirit hadn’t been broken yet. Dazed, he shook his head briefly, stumbled to his feet and… turned his back on Michael and Maze, aiming at Chloe. Without saying a word, he grabbed her upper arm and shoved her towards the abyss.

What? No!

Shouldn’t he be on _her_ side?

Her mouth fell open and as she was about to shriek in alarm, he put a finger to her lips, effective stopping her from making any noise. 

"Shush, Chloe," he patted her shoulder. "Please, trust me," he gasped. "Lucifer dropped Maze and me to distract Michael, but we won’t last long against him. You have to get closer to the edge, so Luci can reach you and fly you to safety without getting involved with this… moron."

He didn’t really wait for her response to his words, undeterred, he pushed and pulled her towards the slope while the demon in the background jumped against the archangel’s chest with both feet.

Chloe's heart pounded wildly.

Maybe… maybe there was hope. Lucifer could take her away. Michael would probably pursue them, but they could make it, if he was able to drop her far enough to regain his immortality. If he could put enough distance between them, he wouldn’t be vulnerable anymore and she was sure that he could be able to stop his brother. That he could be able to defeat him.

Urgh… so many _coulds_ and _woulds_ , but it was so much better than _nothing_ and her thoughts of him getting away finally gave her back the spark of hope she so desperately needed.

Her legs moved faster of their own accord and Amenadiel lost his grip on her. She searched the sky for Lucifer and panic threatened to stifle her recently recuperated strength.

Where was he, damn it? 

She could hear how Maze threw vicious insults at the Archangel behind her, forcing him to lose control but, suddenly she shrieked in surprise. It sounded like a horrible scream of pain and Chloe turned around in fear. Amenadiel instantly left her side and ran back to Michael and the demon.

"Don’t tumble over the edge before Luci gets here," he shouted over his shoulder.

Calling out Maze’s name, he speeded up but could only watch in shock, as the demon dropped down to her knees like in slow motion, before she finally fell on her face. Michael stood over her, breathing heavily. In his hand he held one of her hell forged daggers, covered in blood.

Amenadiel lunged with all his strength at his brother, who stumbled to the side by the mere force of the impact and tried to defend himself from the attack.

Chloe’s breathing stopped short. She couldn’t tell whether Maze was seriously injured or... worse.

No. No. No. Maze….

Involuntarily, she took a step forward towards the demon, she needed to assure herself that Maze was fine, _had to be_ fine… but suddenly, she felt a soft and unexpected touch in her back. Strands of her hair waved around her face, as she turned around carefully.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Lucifer was hovering in the air at some distance off the plateau, his wide eyes intensely fixed on her. He gestured impatiently with both of his hands, indicating that she should run towards him and jump.

Really?

He stared hard at her, his gestures unmistakable, as he pleaded her in silence to trust him. She knew, there was no time for overthinking.

He was her partner. Her friend. She _loved_ him.

Of course, she would trust him. Decision made.

Her heart throbbed painfully as she began to move, her eyes fixed on his face.

She started to run. Fast.

Only a few steps separated her from the abyss and she prepared herself mentally to jump - directly into his arms.

One more step and… her right foot lifted first. She was trying hard to fight the urge to close her eyes and hold her breath as she lifted her left foot off the ground and finally jumped into the void.

Time seemed to stand still, as she glided through the air.

She saw him, stretching out both of his arms, reaching for her… his wings flapped with power as he flew forward, catching her every second now….

A sharp pain shot through her foot and suddenly, she was torn back violently.

She heard Lucifer screaming out her name, she could see his face changing in a flash, his skin turning red, before her world turned upside down.

Still avoiding closing her eyes, she couldn’t see anything except white sneakers and dark blue jeans.

She gasped, her lungs suddenly to weak for a hearty scream and she could feel her mind getting dizzy… nah, she wouldn’t fall unconscious now, damn it!

A long arm reached for her butt, clawing at the fabric of her skirt in an attempt, to tear her up again. With a swift but rough motion she was straightened up and her back pressed flat against hard muscles. Instinctively, she started to wriggle, trying to get rid of this iron grip.

"Keep still, stupid woman," cried Michael. "We're more than two thousand feet above the ground, if I drop you down now, you won’t survive the impact."

Immediately, she stopped fighting him. No more persuasion needed.

Her stomach cramped firmly, as the angle headed toward the base of the valley with breakneck speed. Air resistance squeezed her throat and she had trouble getting enough oxygen into her lungs. His arms wrapped tightly around her body and she hooked her legs around his in addition as fear took over her features.

Never had she jumped with a parachute like Dan, who had once tried and told her about it. In her opinion, the experience of racing towards the Earth with an archangel at death-defying speed, came pretty close to the impressions of his story.

When they were only a few hundred yards from the surface, Michael suddenly stuttered his pace and the rest of her gut, which hadn’t cramped yet, finally had the urge to push up. If she would open her mouth in this very moment, she was sure she would throw up all her inner organs at once. 

She gasped for air loudly when they at last reached the ground. Her knees buckled and she would have landed belly-down on the ground if he had let go of her. Like a wet sack she hung in his arms, it was absolutely disgusting.

Her brain had not yet returned to his full power mode and she could hear him shouting something into the sky, but she didn’t get a word he screamed. She slid to the ground like a pile of misery, as he freed her from his grip. Her chest rose and fell heavily and she tried her best to get her body back under control.

A loud and animalistic roar forced her to lift her head and she gasped again.

Amenadiel and Lucifer stood only a few feet away, facing Michael.

The three brothers stared at each other hatefully, the atmosphere between them seemed to be charged with electricity. Their muscles were visually tensed as they bared their teeth at each other like wolves. A low rumble cannonaded across the plain, echoing from the rocks surrounding them.

Lucifer's furrowed devil face glowed like lava in the setting sun. The air around him flickered with heat. His eyes seemed to consist of blazing flames and as he took a step towards his twin brother, his hands clenched into fists. Chloe could hear him saying something, but like Michael’s before, his voice sounded different, strange, almost otherworldly.

Terrified, she watched as Michael pulled a bluish-blazing sword out of nowhere. It gleamed in such a cold light that her eyes started to ache again. The archangel raised his weapon with a threatening gesture, his eyes sparkled with mischief, as he swung the blade, cutting it through air with a hiss.

Amenadiel lifted his hands and shouted something that Chloe again couldn’t understand. Michael grinned wickedly and ignored his older brother. He turned to Lucifer, whose hands glowed like fire. They approached each other slowly, ready to fight, ready to give everything.

No, no way!

This couldn’t happen, she wouldn’t kneel here, watching the love of her life risking his own.

With sheer willpower Chloe jerked up. As Michael and Lucifer began to move faster towards each other, she was already on her feet and charged forward, activating her very last reserves of strength.

Michael raised his sword arm and hauled off. He struck down with all his might, but before he was able to touch Lucifer with his blade, Chloe jumped between them and right in front of her Devil. She spread her arms wide, ready to intercept the final blow. She could hear desperate screams in front of, behind, and beside her, but she couldn’t tell who yelled what… and… it wasn’t important anymore. Lucifer wouldn’t return to Hell here and now, not as long as she could prevent it. Peace filled her heart and spread over her whole body.

She closed her eyes.

A forcible push threw her aside in a sudden and she heard a horrible, ripping noise, followed by a terrified roar, reverberating through the valley. Her eyes shot open, but a blinding light forced her to shield her face with both hands.

"Enough!" exclaimed an unfamiliar, angry, feminine voice.

Confused, Chloe tried to figure out what was happening. Her heart hammered wildly in her chest... she wasn’t dead... why… please, no, Lucifer….

Suddenly, she felt a warm, gentle touch on her back. She dropped her hands, opened her eyes and turned around, hesitantly. Her heart skipped a beat again, as she realized, that Lucifer was kneeling behind her, holding his arms out to her. With a loud sob, she threw herself against his chest and clasped him desperately with all her limbs.

He was alive!

Her trembling fingers stroked his jaw and his perfect five o’clock shadow - his lips, his cheeks. Her eyes flickered to his as they gazed at each other, unsaid emotions reflected in both of them. He cupped her face with his hands, his thumbs gently stroking her cheekbones.

"Chloe," he breathed and she burst into a smile when she heard him say her name.

Her eyes filled with tears, happy tears this time.

"I almost lost you," she whispered.

His eyes fell to her lips and he tilted his head, but before they could meet for a final kiss, a loud groan interrupted the moment between them.

Frightened, she spun around, only to see Amenadiel lying on the ground right in front of her, Michael's sword stuck deep in his chest. Horrified and ashamed, she realized that she had forgotten everything around her. She let go of Lucifer and fell to her knees beside the former angle who had just saved her life. A strangled sound escaped her.

"Why... oh, Amenadiel...," she sobbed, gently placing a hand on his sweaty forehead.

He tried to smile. "How could I let _you_ die, Chloe? I was wrong in so many ways, since I came here, but I know one thing for sure - you're special. And, not just because you're a miracle," he breathed. "You belong together." His eyes flickered to Lucifer, who was standing behind Chloe.

"Brother." Lucifer’s face was a painful grimace.

"Very well. I'm fed up with all this mess here." The strange, female voice sounded really… pissed now.

Chloe raised her head in surprise.

Michael stood between the two most beautiful women she had ever seen. Both wore white, wavy dresses and were smaller than their brother, about her own size. One of them had long, curly reddish-brown hair and bright green eyes, the other had a fair-haired mane which was tamed into a thick braid and her eyes shone in a warm dark blue. They didn’t look alike at all, but both exuded a celestial aura that made Chloe shiver slightly. She felt her mouth fall open.

One of the women, the fair haired one, turned to the archangel and scolded him loudly. "You're such an idiot! Violence is obviously the only thing for proper solutions in your completely dumb brain! Instead of talking to Father or me before, you just set off for your mission ‘ _sending-Sam-back-to-Hell’_ ," her finger exaggerated apostrophes, "and you are stomping - like a mad bull - almost over a human and your brothers."

"Gabi—" started Michael, but she didn’t let him speak up. 

"Raphi told me what you were up to and I'm glad she didn’t wait any longer." She pointed to the other woman and then to Amenadiel. "Look what you’ve done. He dies!" she yelled.

Everyone flinched at her words.

Amenadiel’s breath rattled.

"You knew that he wasn’t immortal and that he doesn’t have his powers!" she screamed. "And why are you fooling around with your sword like you're going to war at all?" She took a deep breath and composed herself. "Honestly, what were you thinking? Humans are so fragile; you could have hurt someone."

Michael raised a finger and opened his mouth, but she interrupted him again. "Good that Amenadiel protected Lucifer's girlfriend. I can’t believe all of this, by all means… Raphi!" she barked at her sister.

"Stop yelling, Gabs, you're not mad at _me_ ," the green-eyed woman replied in a calm voice.

"Oh, I am angry with you as well. You should have talked Michael out of this imbecilic plan, or, better, you should have sent him to _me in the first place_." She grabbed her brother's upper arm and pointed to Amenadiel. "Take care of him, Raphi. We won’t leave him here on Earth."

"I would have never done anything to harm her," Michael finally hissed between clenched teeth and his eyes travelled to Chloe, looking at her pleadingly. Gabi just ignored him and wagged one hand in the direction of her sister.

Chloe saw Lucifer's sister… Raphi… bending down to Amenadiel and carefully sliding her hands under his armpits. She pulled him to his feet as if he weighed nothing at all, ignoring the painful sounds that came over his lips. The sword was still stuck in his chest, but his sister obviously didn’t intend on removing it now. With an elegant movement, she unfolded her wings, which shone in different shades of gray. A quick, graceful flap and she was gone - out of sight.

Gabi approached Chloe and Lucifer along with Michael, whom she held in a firm grip.

"Samael," she said affectionately and Chloe tipped her head slightly as she waited for Lucifer's usual reaction to that name. But… nothing. He didn’t utter a word.

"It's good to see you again." His sister smiled at him.

Lucifer remained silent.

She sighed. "I understand - you're angry and disappointed, but… I can’t stay longer at the moment." Her smile deepened. "Sam, I promise we'll meet again soon. Everything is destined, you'll see." Leaving this cryptic statement to linger in the air between them, she grabbed Michael even tighter, nodded one last time to Chloe, spread her wings and flew off, together with her brother.

Chloe blinked hard. Raphi’s departure was as elegant as Gabi’s was powerful. Her feathers were almost as white as those of Lucifer and Michael, but unlike their wings, black speckles traversed over the whole length of them.

Lucifer seemed frozen.

He looked up into the sky to where his siblings had just all returned and he looked awfully... lonesome. She could see tears shining in his eyes and her heart ached for him.

Trying to comfort him, she reached out and nestled against his chest. After a brief, hesitant moment, he returned her hug and breathed a gentle kiss on her head.

"Let's fly you home, Detective," he whispered softly into her hair.

She closed her eyes, as a lump was forming in her throat.

He hadn’t said _Chloe_.


	9. Forever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dared to borrow a beautiful Queen song for this chapter. Lyrics and song don't belong to me.  
> Thank you for reading!  
> ... and as always, special thanks to my gorgeous beta, who is a wonderful human being :)))

 

 

The ketchup bottle fell with a dull thud from the shelf and rolled under the kitchen island.

Great.

Sighing, she set the brimming paper bag, which contained her groceries for the next few days, down and squatted in front of the kitchen cupboard to capture the runaway food. This was exactly the sort of thing that happened when she didn’t focus, when she constantly got lost in her train of thought.

Luckily, the bottle was still intact.

She grabbed the ketchup and straightened up again. Her eyes fell on the pack of _Cool Ranch Puffs_ , which poked out of the bag. Without further thinking about it, she had automatically bought them, because they were one of Lucifer's favorite snacks.

Tears filled her eyes.

_Damn it_.

The tiniest thought of him was enough for her to lose track. She swallowed hard.

Since the day Lucifer had returned her home safely, there had been an awkward silence between them.

She didn’t even get the chance to talk to him right after the incident in the Death Valley, because of her obviously problem coping with this annoying _flight-sitch_.

Some heavenly creature took off with her and… ‘ _thud_ ’ - she fainted. How embarrassing. It seemed, that _angel-taxis_ weren’t her cup of tea and at that… as she woke up on her couch shortly after the flight, lightly confused and worried, Lucifer was gone.

Without leaving a single feather or note.

That had been four days ago.

Four days, in which she hadn’t spoken to him, hadn’t seen him, hadn’t touched him.

Fortunately, at least her concern for Maze had proved unfounded. The demon had been severely wounded by Michael, but a feather from Lucifer's wing had apparently healed everything in an instant and Chloe had been more than happy to see her ex-roommate healthy soon after she returned home.

Thank… Devil.

Maze had simply shown up in front of her apartment a few hours after Chloe had woken up and she actually had rung the doorbell, which was utterly confusing. As the Detective had opened the door for her, Maze greeted her with a casual "What’s up, Decker" and found herself shortly afterwards in a fierce embrace from a sobbing Chloe and Trixie. Her horrified face had been worth gold and as she hesitantly patted Chloe’s back, mumbling " _there, there_ ", the Decker-girls finally broke into laughter.

The demon had grinned as well, trying to act airy as ever, but she obviously didn’t know what to do or say next. Gladly, Chloe had been able to read her forced expression. Maze was clearly more concerned about the wellbeing of Trixie and her than she was ever going to admit. Additionally, Amenadiel's selfless act had her left confused as well. Chloe presumed, that she simply needed company.

As Chloe had dared to ask about the actual well-being of Lucifer's brother, her ex-roommate had just shrugged and stated that he probably should be alright by now. _Heaven, angel… you know_ … a typical Maze-answer. 

After Trixie had talked Maze into a movie night on the couch, the three of them spent a very nice evening together, eating tons of very delicious fast food. Out of consideration for Chloe's daughter, they had not mentioned the past events with a single word. They just enjoyed the strange family closeness to each other.

The only downer had been the looks Maze had repeatedly thrown at her, as soon as Chloe could no longer suppress a sigh, or out of a sudden stared into nothing without blinking, because her mind kept travelling to a certain tall and handsome someone.

As it did now.

_Crap_.

Using all her will power, Chloe fought the threatening tears away, grabbed her groceries and focused on putting everything in place for the next ten minutes. As she felt a warm liquid running down her chin, she gasped and reached for her mouth. She hadn’t even noticed, that she had bitten her lip that hard for the whole time… she really should stop thinking of him, longing for him… but….

Her knees gave away.

Breathing heavily, she braced herself with both arms on the kitchen counter. All repressed thoughts of Lucifer returned in one fell swoop and her stomach cramped painfully.

They hadn’t spoken to each other for four damned days, but there was so much to talk about like… Michael, Amenadiel... for heaven’s sake, she wanted to know about these sisters of his as well.

She wanted to talk to him about being his miracle, about the fact that she made him vulnerable. Did he see her with different eyes now? As his _punishment_ , like Michael stated? Did he _lo-_ … what were they to each other now?

Michael's words had burned a trail of doubt into her brain and his planted seed of mischief had started to grow. Day and night her mind kept circling around the fact, that Lucifer and her didn’t belong together, that _she_ was no good for _him_ and she wanted to talk to Lucifer so badly, but she just couldn’t gather the strength to actually call or text him, she feared his response… what if he would act cold and aloof… she wouldn’t be able to stand it....

She was so _scared_.

So scared, that Lucifer would see her different than before this whole debacle with his brother. What if he no longer wanted to be with her. He was always so anxious to vocalize his true feelings for her, guarding them like a dragon would his treasure, but his actions still had spoken loudly, even if he had never lost a word about it. But… maybe he had never said something because he had always been uncertain of what he felt for her. Maybe, he had recognized now, that he did need distance and not… her. 

Seamless and anchorless, she broke down. 

She started to cry like a baby and slumped against the cupboard behind her. Violent sobs shook her whole body as she desperately dropped to the floor, wrapping her arms around her legs. Misery and self-pity crashed over her like waves as she mourned over everything that could have been.

At least, she wouldn’t scare her daughter with her behavior, Trixie was with her Dad.

Her little monkey had already had to bear too much. After her return, Trixie had refused to leave her side in the first two days and she had started to follow her at every turn to make sure that she wouldn’t disappear again.

Constantly, she kept blabbering about Lucifer, who had become the ultimate superhero to her – Spiderman, Iron Man and Captain America – all united in one Devil.

Of course, Trixie soon realized, that Lucifer was staying aloof, and her questions about him and the reason why he didn’t visit had become more and more distressing to Chloe. What should she have told her? That she was too much of a coward to call him and he didn’t call her either?

To distract her poor baby from past events and her... slightly annoying... worship for Lucifer, Chloe and Dan had arranged a spontaneous weekend at Disneyland. Trixie’s cry of joy had surely been heard in the whole neighbourhood.

This morning, the three of them (Trixie, Dan and Charlotte) had started their short-trip. 

Chloe was left behind with a mountain of emotions and longings she simply couldn’t handle any longer.

She already regretted that she had taken a few days off to digest the events. The distraction of her job was missing. Should she go back to work tomorrow? No one of her colleagues had heard what had happened and they would treat her as normal as they always did, and maybe that's what she needed.

Slowly, her tears began to dry and she rubbed her hot face with both hands. She stood up and her red eyes fell on the car keys which she had earlier dropped on the kitchen island. The little devil pendant Lucifer had bought for her a few weeks ago seemed to stare right into her soul and her stomach ached again.

She had to… she needed to… needed to clear her head. 

With one hand she grabbed her keys and fled the apartment.

She needed air.

Right away.

 

 

**********

 

 

With a drink in hand, Lucifer walked melancholy over to his well-stocked library, which was set against a wall in the back of his penthouse. Deep in thought, his index finger wandered aimlessly over the spines of partly antiquated first editions.

He remembered each line in those unique specimens, many of them he had read innumerable times.

His collection of books consisted solely of valuable individual pieces, in all the time, he had stayed among humanity, he had never needed to acquire a book himself. In each edition was written a personal dedication to him - some grateful and loving - some venomous and vicious - depending on the relationship he had with the author of this precious stories.

Some favors had been exchanged to ensure the accruement of various documents and of course, he had demanded each one of them in time. With a grim smile, he thought of the few writers who had really impressed him and with some of them, he even had something like a brief, well… _fling_. 

His thoughtful gaze travelled on before it finally caught the sight of the one book he detested with every fiber of his being.

The book of all books. 

Conceived by men and given as divine.

The stumbling block for the biggest story of lies ever devised and spread about him and yet – he couldn’t force himself to throw it in the bin. Or to tear it apart. Or to burn it. _Hm_ … but it would make a great torch, for sure….

His shoulders sagged as he turned away from the magnificently decorated cover.

He hadn’t left his penthouse for four days now, he hadn’t even been down to LUX. Barricading himself from the outside world in his self-proclaimed den, he was well aware that he did nothing else than _hide_. The encounter with three of his siblings, whom he hadn’t seen in eons, had been able to throw him completely off track.

It seemed, that this very short time, when he had been able to suppress _everything_ that had ever happened, when he tried to just _be_ happy with his Detective… well, this brief moment had come to an abrupt end. His past had caught up with him, as it always would, no matter how much he fought against it.

He knew, that he had to talk to the Detective at some point, but he just didn’t know where to start. Did she want to stay by his side, even if there would always be the threat of Michael or other siblings, which wanted to drag him back to Hell? How could he demand her to be with him? She deserved someone better.

His feet carried him back to his piano on his own and his hand gently stroked the polished wood of the instrument. Music had always been a huge part of him. In the long gone days, when he was still Samael, he had loved singing or playing. His talent had always been admired and he had always attracted a wide audience.

After, in Hell, there were no heavenly sounds anymore, although he had often enough tried to recreate them. The acoustics in the fiery realm were disturbed and distorted, probably due to the constant ash rain. In addition, all the whining and moaning from the various cells significantly hindered him to get lost in a beautiful melody, so, someday, he just capitulated.

Only here, on Earth, he had once again been able to find something like peace and joy in music. All of his houses, scattered all over the world, had a piano room with a large instrument in it. Steinway and Sons, Bechstein or Bösendorfer. It was a delight to play these miracles of resonance.

Before he could settle on the small bench, a loud flap disturbed his somberly thoughts. He looked up in surprise and straight into the bright, dark blue eyes of his sister, who suddenly stood next to him.

"Sam," she said, smiling and spreading her arms.

"Gab," Lucifer replied flatly, just staring at her. His whole body tensed.

She lowered her arms and gave him a half-hearted grin. 

"Okay, it seems that you're not very happy to see me," she stated matter-of-factly. "I understand, but sorry, Sam, seeing you, after all this time… it’s hard not to reach out and simply hug you like in the old days."

Lucifer cleared his throat, but remained silent.

She looked him up and down and pointed to his piano.

"You're playing again?" she rejoiced. "How I missed your music!"

Her long braid flew over her shoulder as she swiftly turned around her own axis, eyeing his couch contemplatively. She sashayed to the furniture and sat down, totally relaxed. 

"Come here and sit next to me, Sam, we have a lot to talk about." She patted the seat next to her with one hand and with the other she plucked her dress. The flawing fabric adulated her figure and the shimmery sky-blue color gave her an otherworldly aura.

_She looks like an angel_ , Lucifer thought cynically.

He folded his arms in a dismissive manner and casually leaned back against his piano, ignoring her invitation to sit with her on purpose.

"If you want to talk – well, go on. I have nothing to say," he etched.

Gabi frowned and wiped an imaginary speck of dust from the long sleeve of her dress. Lucifer winced slightly at the familiar gesture.

"Fine, as you wish. As long as you listen to me, I'm happy with that too." Gracefully, she folded her hands in her lap.

"First and most important - Amenadiel is completely rehabilitated. Due to his selfless action he became an angel _again_. He got his wings and his powers back and... well, apparently also a big part of his pride. He keeps chatting about how he saved your Detective and he's barely able to shut up. Permanently rubbing it in everybody’s face, regardless if they already know… it’s very annoying."

She grinned at her brother and Lucifer found himself involuntarily grinning back. Quickly, he froze his features again, but his sister had already noticed and her grin grew even wider.

"He actually wanted to come back right after he got his wings and check on you and Chloe, but I forbad it."

His sister shifted restlessly on the couch and if Lucifer wouldn’t have known it better, he might have thought she was getting nervous, but… Gab nervous?

_Ridiculous_.

She was the literal right hand of their father, she was the only one, who really ever communicated with him… so… why on Earth should she be nervous and yet….

He watched her as she fiddled with the hem of her sleeve, clearly not knowing what to do or say next.

_Strange_.

He heard her taking a deep breath and squeezed his eyes suspiciously, preparing himself for the things to come.

"Sam, I really need to talk to you, there are... I... how—" she broke off. " _Darn_ ," she groaned, "I imagined that this would be easier."

Lucifer raised his eyebrows questioningly.

In a flash, she rose from the couch and took a hesitant step towards him.

"You... you know how much I've always loved you, Sam - right?" Her eyes rivet on his face. "You were so unique, so different from us. The day, Father and Mother created you there was music in the air and a magical glow filled the heavens everything seemed brighter and more beautiful than usual, truthfully, it was just incredible."

She glanced behind him, somewhere in a far distance, as she got lost in her memories for a brief moment.

"Michael came into existence right after you, as the glory of your arrival wasn’t extinguished yet… but his creation was not quite as bright as yours."

Her gaze travelled back to his face, she looked him deep in the eye and he had the feeling, straight into his soul as well.

"You know that he always bemoaned it. Being the second one, the less notable one. He has always tried to outdo you and in the ambition of his endeavor, some day, he forgot - he overlooked his own feelings for you."

Lucifer laughed briefly and cheerlessly. "Oh, indeed. I always thought I was the only one who noticed his change of heart."

Gabi laid her hand on his upper arm. She tried to ignore the fact that he flinched slightly at her touch, but it stung. She sighed sadly. 

"Of course, I noticed it. Just like Father and Mother as well. Michael simply never realized that _you_ didn’t competed with him, that for you, there had always been other things more important than an infantile rivalry."

With a shrug of his shoulder, he shook her hand off his arm and then turned away from her, stalking towards his bar. He leaned over the counter and fished for a tumbler and a bottle of whiskey; his fingers seemed suddenly awkwardly stiff. 

His sister remained on the spot, silently watching his back and the shiny fabric of his vest, which he wore over his dark gray shirt. With each of his movements, the garment shimmered in a dark shade of green, which actually looked very pretty. Almost as pretty as the clothes made in the silver city.

Humanity had developed quite amazing skills over the past few centuries. 

Lucifer slammed his glass with a loud bang back on the counter and she jumped out of her thoughts.

"What do you _want_ , Gab?" He didn’t turn around. "As much as I enjoy this little interlocution," his voice dripped with sarcasm, "I wonder what you're _really_ aiming for." Picking up the bottle again, he refilled his glass once more.

His sister took a deep breath. 

"Michael never understood that you weren’t meant to _fight_ or to be the leader of armies. He thought your skills were ridiculous compared to his own. Creating stars, making music, awakening and fulfilling desires... he didn’t get it." With a soft rustle of her dress she turned away from his back view and strolled towards his book collection.

"His stubbornness and arrogance kept him from talking to us about how he really felt. If he had done that a long time ago, well... things would have happened just as they had to anyway, but it would have been easier for him. He wasn’t meant to suffer _that_ much... like… oh, is this the story of this handsome young man and his ghastly picture?" She reached for one of the books and pulled it off the shelf. 

Lucifer drew in a sharp breath and turned around. "He?  _He_ suffered? If I remember correctly, it wasn’t him who had been cast out!" he shouted.

Gabi looked at him admonishingly. "He _loved_ you, Sam. Like we all did. Even if he was jealous of you and couldn’t understand you, he _loved_ you anyway. You had a great time as well, didn’t you? All the pranks you planned _together_. He valued you more than he would ever admit to himself and not only your sense of humor. The way that you always questioned… _everything_ … Sam, he did admire you even for that. You know it’s true, he suffered. _A lot_."

He lowered his head like a bull ready to attack. "Very well, so he suffered. How unfortunate for him and how… how I _don’t even care_!" His voice rolled like thunder, but his sister didn’t flinch. 

"Not one of you had the slightest idea of what I had to endure, not one of you _cared about me_!" he yelled. The glass in his hand shattered and amber liquid spilled over his fingers, his shirt - the floor.

Gabi stayed calm, ignoring his outburst - she kept flipping through the book which she was still holding in her hands.

"We _cared_ , Sam. After your fall, not a single day passed when we did not grieve for you. Many of us cried for years and begged Father to reverse his decision or asked him for permission to visit you, at least. But he never even considered it, no matter how much I— " She gave him a quick glance, closed the book audibly and laid it aside.

Lucifer stared wildly at her. Every muscle in his body tensed and his teeth flashed out as a contemptuously grin spread over his face.

"I don’t believe you." His voice was bitter.

"Don’t you dare to doubt what I tell you. It's impossible for me to _lie_ , you _know_ that!" She raised her voice for the first time. "You after all! You, who had always been so fascinated about it, that you took my burden as role model for yourself… but, you simply _decided_ not to lie, I just _can’t_!"

She straightened up and focused her dark blue eyes on his face. The color of her iris’ seemed to change and her whole body began to glow softly. Lucifer gasped as a wave of her energy swept over him. He lurched backwards, the counter stopping him from tumbling farther away. Blood rushed through his veins and his heartbeat accelerated painfully.

Oh, how long had it been since he had felt her power?  _Eons_. He had completely forgotten what it was like, when she used them.

Trembling, he struggled for air. In a sudden, his head was filled with long-suppressed memories of his siblings and his time in Heaven. The pictures blurred and cleared alternately and he closed his eyes as they started to overwhelm him.

His mind and soul filled with pure love, joy and happiness. There was hardly room left for negative or bad feelings anymore and he threatened to burst of peace and hope. His heart cramped as the undesired warm feelings of togetherness and family spread through his chest… this was so _wrong_ … he didn’t _want_ this… his family had _abandoned_ him.

Something in him started to fight his sister’s influence. 

Violently. 

This feelings and pictures weren’t real anymore.

Heat waves billowed over his body, making his eyes glow red.

Dark memories slowly replaced happy ones. Ash trickled down on images of his past, wades of smoke engulfed the silver city of his memory. Reflections of countless fires threw shadows on the marble buildings.

A new and stronger wave of happiness and love rolled over him, but hit a wall of blazing flames. A painful throbbing in his temples almost made him sob.

"Stop. It." He clenched his teeth.

She frowned in surprise, the glow that had emanated from her subsiding.

"How... _how_ did you manage to fight me?" she asked confused.

Lucifer opened his eyes. "Hell was a good teacher against _everything_ that brings joy and happiness," he breathed. "Apparently, even your power can’t obliterate the millennia of pain and loneliness that I suffered there."

Concerned, she looked at him. "Sam, I—" she broke off, shook her head and started over again. "I am so sorry. For everything that happened to you." She took a deep breath and braced herself. "What you had to endure was so terrible, nobody - none of us except you - could have stood that and still be _whole_."

His eyes narrowed as he listened to her words.

"Sam, Father has long been secretive about his plans." She dropped her eyes, suddenly not able to look at him any longer. "I am here to reveal your destiny to you, on his behalf."

Lucifer stared at his sister with wide eyes.

"You're here for _what_?" His voice tilted in disbelief.

"Look, _everything_ that should have happened _has_ actually happened.  _Everything_ went as planned, well - _almost_ everything." She smiled at him. "There is no reason to keep you in the dark any longer. It's just that first of all, _you_ finally deserve to know what Father's plans looked like."

He kept staring at her, choking on air. After a few seconds he shook his head in exasperation. "I finally deserve to know his plans?  _First of all_? Why would you say that?"

Gabi crossed her arms over her chest. "Sam," she paused and tilted her head, not sure about his reaction to her following words. " _You_ have always been _the plan_."

The air escaped his lungs with a sharp hiss. Slowly, he looked his sister up and down and… started to chuckle. It wasn’t a pleasant sound and it grew louder and louder. He bent forward, his hands clapping his thighs.

"I—" he gasped as he struggled for breath. " _I_ was Father's plan?" he giggled almost hysterically. 

Frowning, she eyed him worried. "Yes. The day of your creation… Father took one look at you and when he saw your true nature, he created his plan."

He put his hands on his hips and leaned forward. 

"Oh, I see… honestly, who would have thought that you could make me laugh like that… hihi," he chuckled again.

"Sam—" she began and stopped in dismay as he jerked upright and took an aggressive step toward her. His mood had changed abruptly.

 "No," he raised an index finger, while his expression darkened. "You can’t tell me that _everything_ that happened to _me_ was planned right from the start. I mean, I knew that _good old Dad_ was manipulative, but _that_? Seriously?"

He dropped his arms and clenched his fists.

"In the second of my birth, has he already set me up as a pawn on his board? I have never been more than _that_ for him?" To his own embarrassment, his eyes filled with tears.

Gabi carefully approached him and put her arms around him. When he didn’t move, she hugged him tightly, stroking his back.

"I'm _so_ sorry," she whispered and her own tears fell down her cheeks. "I am so very sorry." A faint quiver stole into her voice as she caught all the grief and anger which radiated from him.

Hesitantly, he raised his hands and put his arms around his sister's delicate body. Her words sank deeper into his consciousness and involuntarily, he began to tremble. His Father had never seen more in him than a predestined victim. His fall, his time in Hell - all that had always been destined for him, even before he become a full-grown angel.

Overwhelmed by his feelings, he buried his face in his sister's hair. Her consolation was now more than welcome to him, every fiber of his body screaming for only a tiny spark of love and understanding, things that his family denied him for too long.

When he suddenly felt a warm hand patting his shoulder, Lucifer winced in shock.

Gasping, he whirled around, pushing his sister protectively behind him. His eyes went wide when he saw Amenadiel standing right in front of him. His mouth fell open.

"What—?"

His brother had the nerve to smirk at him.

"Luci," he said and pulled him into a bloodcurdling, tight hug.

Lucifer moaned loudly and freed himself from the arms of the former fallen angel. He looked him up and down and was relieved to see him well again. Reluctantly, he returned his bright smile, as he noticed a movement out of the corner of his eye.

His expression froze and his gaze flickered over his elder brother's face to a figure, which hid behind Amenadiel’s back. 

_Bloody hell_ , what was _he_ doing here?

A threatening growl formed in Lucifer's throat and his eyes narrowed to slits. The air around him began to flicker.

"Brother," hurried Michael, raising his hands in peace. He looked at his twin brother with a sad and knowing expression.

Quickly, Gabi stepped around Lucifer, who was still growling. She grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him down to face her.

"Sam, stop it. Michael isn’t here to harm you or anybody else. He knows that he was wrong and that his doings were absolutely moronic." She released him and turned to the younger archangel. 

"Am I right, Michael?" she snapped.

He tilted his head and his eyes flickered over his three siblings, standing in front of him. Amenadiel and his sister made unmistakable grimaces in his direction and he sighed softly.

"I'm… I am sorry, Luci. I... I was wrong when I thought I knew what Dad wanted." He looked down at the floor for a moment, then he looked up again, his eyes pleading for forgiveness.

Lucifer drew in a sharp breath and regarded him suspiciously. He actually didn’t know what to say and shook his head slightly. He narrowed his eyes and rubbed his nose with two fingers. He would never have expected to hear an apology from Michael, unfortunately, that caught him completely off-guard. 

First, this irrepressible hate and now - his twin brother here in his penthouse, looking at him like a puppy with wounded eyes? Did he really think that everything would have been forgotten because of one single apology? How typical, damn him and his inflated ego.

Oh, he suddenly had enough and he wholeheartedly wished that they would all vanish, that Gabi would have never revealed his destiny… he could have managed to forget everything which had happened in time and he could have started all over again with his Detect— Alas, he simply just could have started all over again here on Earth.

He looked up and noticed that his siblings were staring at him expectantly. Annoyed, he raised his hands and snorted.

"Very well," he sighed and turned directly to his sister. "It's time to finish this. This overdose of sibling love is almost unbearable. Since I am just longing for some peaceful rest and Chl— a good whiskey, I’d like to ask you one more question, Gabs."

When she nodded, he continued.

"What exactly was Father's plan?"

 

 

**********

 

 

Chloe’s cold finger cramped the steering wheel of her car.

Aimlessly, she had been driving around for almost an hour, slowly starting to get tired. The traffic in L.A. forced her entire concentration, but her thoughts drifted over and over again to Lucifer.

Why hadn’t he tried to contact her? Had he given up on them already?

A painful sting ached in her stomach.

It had taken him so long to finally open up to her just a tiny bit, instead of running away from his feelings on every occasion. Even though he still didn’t understand all of his emotions and, honestly, how could he ever, he was a divine being and even most humans had difficulties to see clearly – but he had just _tried._  For her. For _them_.

She knew how complicated and tormented he was and how much his past influenced his behavior. The thought of being unworthy of her, of being a monster, still stood between them, but she really thought that he had been on the right track, Linda had helped him so much. 

But would he ever understand how much _she_ loved _him_?

What he meant to her?

Would he understand that she didn’t want to ever live without him again?

She did want to move on, together, with him, without fear of stepping backwards again, because he can’t be free of his Father, who manipulated him that much. 

This damned family of his! She punched the steering wheel with both hands, cursing.

The longing in his eyes… she can’t forget the way he looked as he watched his sisters and brothers fly up to Heaven. All the time he tried to pretend that it didn’t matter to him anymore, but she knew now… she had witnessed how important it really was to him. No matter how much they had hurt or abandoned him, he still was one of them. 

An angel.

He belonged to them and not here on Earth.

Not to humans. Not to… her.

How could she have ever believed that there would be a happy ending for both of them? How stupid she was, so stupid.

Tears ran down her cheeks and obscured her vision. Impatiently, she wiped her eyes with one hand and fumbled on the buttons of the radio, she needed distraction, otherwise she would eventually cause a traffic accident.

She had to stop at a crossroads and her tear-stained eyes fell on a road sign, pointing in the direction she wanted to go. Her throat tightened.

Really? Did she subconsciously wanted to drive there?

She raised her head and looked into the near distance, she could already see the glint of the water from here.

All right then.

The traffic light jumped from red to green and she drove off again. Her mind travelled to Lucifer's story of his arrival here, on this very beach. When he made up his mind to stay here for a _vacation_ , to cut off his wings and show his father the biggest of all stinky fingers.

A soft smile played on her lips as she thought of her rebellious Devil.

But… how would he have decided if he had known, that she was actually waiting for him here in L.A? As his personal miracle, tailored to fit to him, so to speak? The manifestation of his Father's manipulative mind, which he hated so abysmally.

He probably would have thrown himself headfirst back into the floods and swam swiftly back to Hell… swam? She never asked why he landed on the beach and not elsewhere….

The car radio stammered and croaked, distracted, she pressed the buttons to find another channel.

The first parking signs appeared in front of her and she decided not to drive further, but to search for a free space right here. Carefully, she joined the short queue of waiting cars. Weekdays and at this time of the day, fortunately there weren’t that many people on the way to the beach, she really needed time alone and didn’t want to be stared at because of her red eyes.

She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel as she leaned against the window of her car with her left elbow. Despite the few beach visitors, it still went very slowly. Maybe, she should have tried another parking lot… she lost her train of thought as the radio suddenly switched to full reception and the delicate sounds of a familiar tune reached her ears.

 

_There's no time for us_

_There's no place for us_

_What is this thing that builds our dreams, yet slips away from us_

 

Incredulously, she rolled her eyes. That couldn’t be true, as if she would need additional motivation for her sadness.

Frantically, she began to fumble at the radio buttons, as a loud horn behind her made her startle. In front of her there was no more cars, all of them were apparently already in the parking lot and she hadn’t closed up.

_Hell._

With an apologetic gesture to the driver behind her, she drove on, concentrating on finding a gap for her car. She found a small parking bay, which unfortunately was very narrow. She really should have taken an exit further back.

The gentle voice of Brian May wafted through the car.

 

_Who wants to live forever_

_Who wants to live forever_

 

She clenched her teeth as she set back with her car, searching for a more appropriate parking space, which she found only a few feet away. She turned off the engine and leaned heavily on the steering wheel. Her eyes flickered to the radio. The second verse of the song started and the distinctive timbre of Freddie Mercury worked its magic. She was trapped. Her hand, which had already reached out to stop the music, fell down.

 

_There's no chance for_

_It's all decided for us_

_This world has only one sweet moment set aside for us_

 

Lucifer was immortal.

She wasn’t.

Even if they stayed together, she would die one day and he would just go on living without her. He would forget her. No one could live forever and love a person who wasn’t around for centuries any longer.

  

_Who dares to love forever_

_Oh oho oh, when love must die_

 

What would come _after_ her?

_Who_ would come after her?

Would there be a new miracle for him?

Would he go back to his old ways and have meaningless one-night stands, making every day an endless party?

Would he lose interest in humanity and devote himself to other things?

  

_But touch my tears with your lips_

_Touch my world with your fingertips_

  

How much she wished, he would be right there by her side now, that he would take her in his arms and tell her that everything would be okay. 

Her heart was burning in her chest, as she finally recognized _how much_ she needed him. With every fiber of her being she wished, that he would comfort her and assure her, that he needed her as well. That he told her, he loved her.

 

_And we can have forever_

_And we can love forever_

 

She sobbed loudly as she finally faced the futility of her situation.

There wouldn’t be a ‘ _forever_ ’ for the both of them. 

He was an angel.

She was a human.

She made him vulnerable and probably, her very existence reminded him each passing day of the fact that his Father constantly interfered with his life. Maybe he had already come to this conclusion and avoided her therefore.

 

_Who wants to live forever_

_Forever is our today_ _  
_  

With a strangled sound she pulled the car door open and literally jumped out of it. Her stomach ached and her knees threatened to give away again.

The last notes of the song echoed over the parking lot.

 

_Who waits forever anyway?_

 

No - she did not want that either. She didn’t want him to wait forever and she didn’t want to wait forever herself. She did want to be with him _now_ , but they weren’t meant for each other. No matter what Lucifer's Dad intended. 

Gift or punishment. It doesn’t matter in the end. The result was the same. 

Out of an impulse, she stooped and fiercely slammed her fist on the radio's power button. She removed her keys and locked the car. 

Without further thinking, she ran toward the beach, the rough sea breeze pulled at her hair and dried the tears that started to run down her cheeks again.


	10. Destined

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation is done, the final chapter is here and I am grateful for every single reader, who followed this little story of mine and I am more than thankful for everyone, who left kudos or a comment :)))) A slight warning, writing smut is not really my thing, so I apologize if it is too much or too less, to my defend, I can only say - I tried ;)  
> You all are awesome!!!
> 
> My heart goes out to Kay_Kay - a warmhearted, kind, supporting, sweet and intelligent woman!!!! I don't know how I deserved this luck to get to know you AND to get you as my beta. You will always have a special place in my heart!!!!!

 

 

Chloe closed her swollen, aching eyelids.

She was exhausted and as breathtaking as the sunset over the Pacific Ocean usually was to watch, her red-rimmed eyes stung too much only at the sight of the sun slowly sinking down on the waves.

Completely lost in her thoughts, she didn’t know how long she actually had sat there on the beach, near the water, motionless. Her fingers buried deep in the fine sand; her legs stretched out in front of her.

Her mind seemed strangely empty as she faced the last rays of light of this day. The swirling emotional chaos within her, all these doubts and misgivings, had just stopped. Probably, because the atmosphere here was so peaceful and she really needed that. The only thing left from her former fears was a dull, painful throb in her chest.

A faint flapping sound in her near proximity put a bitter smile on her lips.

So, he had come.

Finally. 

But - what would he say?

Whatever it would be, none of his words would hit her unprepared. She had already played through every conceivable scenario of farewell in her mind and slowly, she opened her eyes,  bracing herself inwardly.

No matter what, she had decided to tell him how much she loved him and would then try to accept _anything_ , even the fact that they were not meant for each other.

Her nostrils flared, as she smelt his familiar scent of sandalwood and… hm… just _Lucifer._

He inched closer; the sounds of his footsteps muffled by the soft sand. Careful, he sank down next to her.

Looking at him from the corner of her eyes, she saw that he supported his upper body with both arms, involuntarily mirroring her position, as he stretched out his long legs as well. He didn’t touch her, kept his distance, but she could feel the warmth that always seemed to emanate from him. It was very difficult to suppress the urge to cuddle up or even look at him directly.

They shared a moment of silence together, watching the spectacular colors of the sunset.

Finally, she heard him clearing his throat, taking a deep breath.

"I know," he said so quietly, that she could barely hear his words.

She swallowed hard.

"What does this mean?" She croaked, her voice hoarse from all the weeping and not speaking for hours.

He laughed cheerlessly.

"I finally know _why_ , Detective." His voice trembled slightly as he continued. "I know Dad's _plan_."

Startled, she inhaled and turned to face him, her surprised look flickering over his disjointed appearance. His hair was disheveled and his eyes slightly reddened. The top buttons of his shirt were open and his sleeves rolled up. A stain in the area near his stomach darkened the fabric of his vest, and his belt sat strangely loose on his hips. His suit jacket lay carelessly beside him in the sand, dropped like he didn’t care.

"Dad's... uh, _God's_ plan?" she repeated incredulously.

"Yes," he replied tonelessly.

Her heartbeat quickened. She didn’t expect this, nope, nothing at all.

"Do you want to... uhm… would you like to… uh… are you _allowed_ to tell me about it?" she stammered, waiting breathlessly for his answer.

"That's why I'm here, Detective." Again, he cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Maze has tracked your phone for me after I couldn’t find you in your apartment. I was a little... well, surprised about your whereabouts." His voice gained a questioning undertone, but she decided to ignore it and said nothing.

When he gave her a nervous sideways glance, she nodded at him to continue.

He turned his face back to the ocean and she could hear him breathing deeply. Uncertain, she pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around her knees. Her eyes closed anxiously in the expectation of what was to come.

 

"Very well, it’s… it’s a long story so I hope you have nothing important coming up, Detective," he whispered and she could hear how his attempt to make a joke failed. Even for him. Her hands shook nervously.

"As you know, my Father and Mother created every angel who lives in the Silver City, their children," he started hesitantly as she kept her silence.

"They were horribly in love and at the beginning of their relationship they were very happy, so they decided to share their feelings with some offspring. They enlarged their family until there were hundreds or more of us."

He sighed heavily.

"By the time Mum's… _urge_ to procreate faded. She wanted more time for other things, cheerfully things like music, dancing, laughing, chatting or to sum it up, she just wanted to be her own woman again. Dad was…uhm, let’s say he was _stunned_ , as he had always been obsessed about creating more and more angels, so he could burden them with a variety of tasks and use them to delegate his duties." A cynical smile played on his lips as he continued. "The two of them started arguing, or - more precisely – they quarreled, Detective. For the first time ever, they recognized how different their views of living, of their whole _existence_ were and… they abruptly stopped their child production."

Chloe grimaced. She had met Lucifer's mother and it didn’t surprise her that at some point, the Goddess had gotten really pissed. That she just wanted to have fun. Hell, she could even somehow understand her. No one wants to be treated like a female baby factory the whole time.

"After a short period of intense confrontation and ugly insults on both sides, they made it up again and once more, they decided to give creating a change, obviously they saw it as a kind of reconciliation opportunity." He laughed dryly.

"Well, they probably put more ambition in the act of creation itself than ever before, because the last angels they fathered… and _mothered_ of course, became the strongest and most powerful of all time. The archangels."

Chloe listened to him as if spellbound. His story sounded like a fairytale, like a story written in some books and... _uh_... to be honest, somehow it was actually written in some book but most of all and beyond all comprehension, it was _real_. Like _really_ real. She tried to wrap her mind around all of this new information, his words slowly sinking in and she wasn’t quite sure if her brain could handle it at all.

 _Nope_.

There was a good chance, that she would end up as a giggling maniac after his revelation.

"On the day when I was born," Lucifer's voice trembled slightly as he continued, "both of them seemed to have been especially... _motivated_."

He swallowed hard again. 

"Apparently, in the second of my birth, it was immediately clear that I would be an extraordinary angel, even compared to the other archangels as well. Michael had been created right after me, but he wasn’t... _like_ me."

He took a deep breath. 

"My sister told me, that, as Dad laid His eyes on me for the first time, he immediately started making plans for me."

Her heart cramped painfully. Could there be anything worse than that? God already _used_ him when he still had been a… uh… were angels even been born as babies... or were they already fully grown... giant babies... urgh… don’t imagine giving birth to a fully grown man… breathe, Chloe….

She felt slightly dizzy as her thoughts began to ride a rollercoaster with her and she forced herself to take a deep breath – a very deep breath. No need for a break down. Not yet. Calm… _stay calm_ … she opened her eyes and looked at him.

He casually leaned on his knees with his forearms, but his figure was tense and his eyes glassy, still facing the ocean.

"After creating a few more archangels, the mood between Mum and Dad deteriorated rapidly, no longer was there talk of reconciliation and their relationship became worse than even before. Mum finally refused the creation of new angels and Dad - well, he needed a _new_ _job_ and so he started to create a fresh kind of kids all by himself – you."

His hands wiped a few grains of sand away from his pants and he sighed softly.

"Unlike us angels or archangels you were so vulnerable and needy, Dad had to devote all His attention to you and... most of all, over the years He also devoted all His love to you. We had always been more or less His tools, He knew we were strong, almost as strong as He was. Obviously, He thought we never needed His unqualified love as much as you did."

She could hear the bitterness in his words and she could understand him. Just because one child seemed to be weaker than the other, a parent should never make the mistake of showering one with more attention than the other. All children should receive the same amount of love from their parents it had to be the most natural thing in the world. Sadly, she shook her head.

"Mum noticed Dad's obsession with you and tried to persuade him to clarify things with her once and for all, but He just ignored her, He turned away from her and back to his beloved humans. She didn’t take _that_ well and she got mad at him - really mad - she was a Goddess; she wasn’t to be ignored. Her ire grew. Nothing thing else seemed to matter to her anymore… and, however, since the two were equal and there was hardly a way to stop him from toying around with you, she focused her attention on humanity itself. She decided to torture you… just a little bit. She knew exactly how much he would like _that_."

Goose bumps ran down Chloe's back.

"She caused quarrels and planted the seeds of mischief between the first humans, she plagued you with diseases and hate."

He glanced at her from the corner of his eyes.

"It wasn’t me who tempted Eve in the Garden, Detective. It was my Mother," he scoffed. "Dad feared for you, He couldn’t let her damage you further and… His plan began to form. He would have done anything to have you safe."

She drew in a sharp breath. His words had sounded terribly cynical. Did Lucifer hate humanity for everything his Father had done for them? Michael had told her he had been terribly jealous and she could absolutely retrace his feelings.

"As I mentioned before, I was... different," he continued. "I've never been just an ordinary soldier or someone who yielded his duties. According to my sister, I inherited exactly equal parts from my parents… I was especially well balanced. Mum's genome gave me the gift to arouse and fulfill desires, the passion for music and sensual pleasures. From Dad, I inherited parts of His creative powers and the divine light. I inherited His love and fascination for creation. Whether creation concerned stars or planets, or... humanity. As the only one of my siblings, I was interested and sort of attracted to you almost as much as Dad himself," his voice dropped to a whisper.

Chloe looked at him with compassion. His chest rose and fell heavily as he struggled to continue. Hesitantly, she reached out for his shoulder... but stopped herself. She didn’t know if her touch was welcome and she wouldn’t want to interfere his story.

Seconds elapsed, seconds in which he seemed to fight a fierce inner fight. Finally, he struggled for breath and spoke again.

"Dad relied on my predispositions," he whispered. "He forged his plan and He knew that I was the only one who could fulfill it. I was the only one who would never disappoint Him. I liked His beloved humans, I was strong and stubborn, so... He started the first part of his charade, as—"

His voice broke.

"Lucifer," breathed Chloe. She wanted him to go on, she desperately needed to know what his Father had done, but at the same time she was overwhelmed by the pain of watching him suffer.

He made a defensive gesture with his hand, motioning that he would continue. He swallowed hard.

"His plan started by forcing me to create even more stars. He mocked me on purpose, by telling me to take my brethren as an example to submit, that I should only think of my tasks and that I am not allowed to waste my time watching humans. As I dared to disagree, He threatened me, that if I ever should oppose, I would get punished for it. His actions were orchestrated to make me see how confined I was and how free his earthly creations were. It was all designed to _make_ me want something… _more_."

He chuckled bitterly.

"So, Detective, I did exactly what he intended - I asked for free will, for self-determination. Of course, He had to deny me everything and challenged me right into a rebellion with it. He knew that it would come to this, as He immediately sensed this innate spark of resistance on the day of my creation - or, maybe he even initiated it himself, even though He would never admit _that_."

For the first time since he had sat down, he fully turned towards her and looked at her with his big, sad eyes. 

"Do you know what’s the most ironic thing in all this has been, Detective?"

Breathless, she shook her head.

"I actually _owned_ free will, but I just didn’t realise it. If I had decided to simply not follow his orders and to ignore his mockery without starting a riot, _nothing_ would have happened. Maybe I would have become a role model for my siblings, but even this fact wouldn’t have bothered my Dad at all. Everything He ever demanded or ordered, His whole regency, if you want to call it that, is based solely on the fact that we _believe_. No one - no angel and certainly no human, had ever been forced to bow down to His will. I was too stupid and too influenced by the submissive attitude of my siblings to see that."

He laughed dryly and her throat tightened.

"If I hadn’t been so mad and disappointed about Him then, maybe His plan would have never worked out."

"Lucifer," she whispered painfully again, reaching out for him. This time she didn’t flinch and stroked gently over the silken fabric of his upper arm. His eyes closed briefly at her touch, his shoulders slumped and he leaned slightly against her tender, caressing fingers. As he abruptly turned his face away from her and towards the water, she jolted slightly.

"After I... fell, there was an ugly altercation between Mum and Dad. She couldn’t forgive him for what He had done to me and so she rampaged and raged among humanity in the centuries to come, it was her way to punish Him, for His ignorance towards her and… uh, everything. My siblings had their hands full mitigating the effects of all the plagues and epidemics she cursed you with. Things finally got so bad that my Father decided to ban Mum to Hell. He only succeeded in His mission of imprisoning her, because of the majority of angels, who were all on His side and because of the fact, that she was more than disappointed about her children helping Him and not her. Nobody stood up for her, as nobody had done for me before."

He laughed harshly. 

"As you know, I never visited her in her cell and I never talked to her. I never felt the need to _chat_ with my Mum."

Chloe nodded; he had already told her.

"Well," he went on, tonelessly, "time passed and after thousands of years that I’d spent in the fiery pit, I got so bored that I thought to Hell with Dad and I started to visit humanity for short trips, which, as you know, became more and more frequent."

He gave her a quick sidelong glance.

"Finally, it came the day when I fully decided to leave these damned gates to hellfire behind, because I needed a really long vacation and I came here, to LA... where I met you. My miracle, that was already waiting for me and fascinated me from the first second I laid my eyes on it."

Her stomach clenched at his words.

"Hell was a short moment without a divine ruler, holding all the strings, as Amenadiel was so distracted from his task to send me back, instead of guarding the gates… and Mum managed to escape from her cell. "

He sighed loudly.

"After some back and forth and unfortunately, before I could stop innocent victims from falling to her schemes, I gave Mum a new universe and closed the void behind her. She was gone. Forever."

He fell silent.

She waited for him to continue.

Nothing.

A few minutes passed, still, he kept silent.

What?

Like - that's it?

Why the Hell-?

"Lucifer," she gasped. "What _was_ the plan?"

She knelt down next to him and grabbed him by his upper arm, forcing him to look at her. 

"What was the ultimate goal of the plan, what did your Dad expect and why? I… I can’t—"

"He wanted to get rid of Mum," he stated dryly.

Chloe's thoughts raced.

"What," she blurted out in disbelief. "That’s all?"

"Detective," he said gently. "My Mum was, well - _is_ \- a Goddess. She was the only creature in this universe that had as much power as my Father. They were equal. The two found each other, loved each other, but after everything, their alliance failed. She began to threaten _everything_ He had created. Dad had to get rid of her, but He could not attack her directly without the risk of losing. Her exile to Hell had hardly been possible and He knew that she would be able to escape - in time. If she really had wanted to, she would have fled much earlier. She was only too distracted from her self-pity to do so."

"But... but..." stuttered Chloe.

"I was the only one of her children that could offer her a new universe. Only my flaming sword is capable of cutting through everything, even through the worlds. But Mum… she would have never left voluntarily, even if I had talked to her about this opportunity, like Dad considered first. She would have refused to leave her children and she would have got even more mad about Dad… a war was inescapable. Humanity would have never been able to survive that and many of my siblings would have probably died as well. Mum only left in peace, because I _demanded_ it and after all of these incidents that happened before."

"You... you _demanded_ it... because..." she stuttered and gave up. Damn, she just couldn’t articulate a clear sentence.

"Because Dad's plan worked."

He grabbed one of her icy hands and held it between his own warm fingers.

"Detective, if Mum hadn’t threatened the lives of so many people... _your_ life, I would never have come up with the idea of a parallel universe."

" _That_ was your destiny? For this, you had been sent to Hell?" Her eyes filled with tears.

He nodded.

"Why _you_ , why not—" she broke off as he put a finger to her lips.

"No one else was made for this. Just I. I was everything Dad built set up His plan on, I was His only hope...."

His words died away and a single tear ran down his cheek.

Chloe's heart contracted painfully.

"Amenadiel?" she whispered.

"No, Detective. He was the first of all angels and was equipped with too much pride. His nature, his qualities made him rather a model for unconditional obedience to Dad. Apart from the fact that his contempt for humanity... well... Dad had designed His plan so, that Amenadiel fell as well, but he didn’t fall because he was thrown like me, he fell from grace. His way back to salvation and the new perspectives he gained were _his_ destiny."

"Uriel" she breathed.

"Uriel," he sighed sadly. "Unfortunately, Uriel's purpose was always to die here. From my own hand. He was never as well... uh… _evolved_ as we others and he always was jealous - ambitious – he wanted more than he could handle. Dad did him the favor and gave him his so desired importance in the form of a martyr's death. Without Uriel, Mum would never have realized how unwanted she was. Detective, her _own child_ was ready to _kill_ her, just to please Dad. Uriel knew the plan from the beginning and he was… excited."

Chloe shook her head.

"How cruel."

"I don’t disagree, Detective," he huffed.

Her eyes fell on their clasped hands.

"How do you manage to stay so calm?" she asked softly. 

Her eyes moved back to his face, registering the deep wrinkles around his mouth, the paleness of his skin.

"If I tell you that I didn’t want to face you until I was able to compose myself a bit, after I blew off some steam, would you believe me, Detective?" he answers just as softly.

"What?"

"After I destroyed half of the furniture in my penthouse, I punched Michael in the face and got into a bloody satisfiable fistfight with Amenadiel _and_ my imbecilic twin, but my sister, Gabi, interrupted us. She has, among other things, the ability to mitigate negative feelings. In the end, that helped a bit."

A tiny smile played on the corners of his mouth.

A thought flashed in her mind.

"Do you need to go back to Hell?" she called in alarm.

"No," he reassured her. "Purportedly I'm welcome to the Silver City at any time."

He snorted.

"Hell... Hell can also be managed by a few demons, especially the Lords of them. Souls keep punishing themselves anyway and should it be necessary to intervene in exceptional cases, this will be done by any angel who’s turn it is, without immediately making a permanent job out of it. This _honor_ was only given to me."

His expression darkened and she could hardly imagine what he really felt about this cruel irony.

Chloe bit her lip. The thoughts in her brain still seemed to do somersaults and she hadn’t even dared to ask the question, that burned a hole in her very soul. But she had to, she had to know….

She forced herself to speak.

"What about _me_ , Lucifer?" she whispered. "Did I have a purpose too? A destiny? Why am I making you vulnerable and why doesn’t your... mojo work on me?"

He let go of her hand and her heart sank.

"I had to become aware of you, that's why my power doesn’t work for you. The fascination that came with your resistance made me want to spend my time with you."

She gasped; a shiver ran down her spine.

"You make me vulnerable because... well, Detective... that wasn’t actually intended by my Father..." his voice trailed off.

"Lucifer, please, _why_?" Her voice was hardly audible. Tears came into her eyes again.

His gaze flickered to her face.

"Because I _feel_ vulnerable around you, Detective. My _emotions towards you_ make me vulnerable.  _I_ make myself vulnerable, when you're with me, _Chloe_."

His eyes held so much warmth, she swallowed hard.

"You are such a kind-hearted and selfless person and you were the first being that ever _cared_ about me."

She blinked. 

Stared.

Blinked again.

"You’re saying, I – no, _you_ make yourself vulnerable?" she rasped hoarsely. Her voice seemed to fail.

"Yes. Dad didn’t foresee this special detail. Oh, for certain He wanted you to become important to me, but He underestimated how _much_ —"

He stopped. 

"It wasn’t part of his plan. Gabi said that Dad Himself had never thought it would happen. Obviously, we define who we are and we are what we feel."

Chloe was still staring at him in awe, her eyes wide.

"So, no one knew about your vulnerability and that was the reason, Michael was so surprised… Michael! What about him?"

Lucifer smiled grimly.

"Something else that Dad didn’t include. Actually, His plan worked out with Mum's voluntary departure and everything destined was fulfilled. Gabi had already been assigned to enlighten me, when my moronic twin-brother suddenly decided to interfere and send me back to Hell of His own accord. Dad was surprised, but He decided not to intervene on the spot."

"So, Michael is no longer a threat?" She hated the way her voice trembled. "You know, he tried to… uh… to kiss me several times… but… I… but…" she stammered.

Lucifer growled. 

"Oh, I know, and the reason I punched him was just _that._ " He snorted loudly. "If Gabi hadn’t intervened, I don’t think he would have gotten off so easy."

His eyes glowed reddish.

Chloe couldn’t help herself, but she felt a little satisfied about the fact, that Lucifer had tried to beat up Michael.

"My brother," he continued, "apparently felt the first time in his life, what it is like to be… _loved_."

He lowered his eyes.

"Your... uhm… feelings for _me_ confused him, he thought they were addressed to him, the bastard."

His eyes glowed brighter. 

"My sisters had made it certainly clear, that this wasn’t the case and he regrets his actions. Deeply."

"Your sisters… sisters! Lucifer! I checked so many facts about Heaven, angels and all that stuff, but I never read anything about sisters. Why—" she broke off as he waved a hand.

"Did you really think, that there is an endless stallion parade in Heaven? All this patriarchy stuff came only from you, well, humanity. So overbearing, the manly species."

He shook his head, sadly.

"There are as many female as male angels in the Silver City, no matter what some religions have made of it."

Chloe was speechless.

Everything seemed to make a crazy sense, and yet her mind had serious problems with Lucifer's words. She sighed loudly and massaged her temples.

"Detective?" asked Lucifer, slightly alarmed.

She raised one hand. "Somehow, I still don’t get it all together, as much as I’m trying to."

"What irritates you the most?"

Desperate, she tore her hair.

"I dunno... maybe you can explain again why this all happened right now? Why not millennia ago?"

Her eyes flickered to his, seeking for answers.

He smiled gently at her.

"Time doesn’t mean the same to us as it does to you, Detective. Dad knew that Mum would escape from Hell as soon as there was a chance, once she was literally fed up with playing the well-behaved prisoner but what really pushed her into it was my prolonged absence. Besides, as she wanted to get rid of her husband, I seemed to be the perfect ally for her plan. I was full of hatred for Dad and my siblings and she thought it wouldn’t be difficult to persuade me to a new rebellion, after all, I had already led one. See? Perfect timing."

Chloe studied him carefully, his sarcasm ached in her heart.

"If Dad hadn’t created you as my miracle, maybe I would even have helped her."

Her eyes widened and she shook her head in denial.

"Really?" she breathed flatly.

He hesitated for a moment.

"You were… you _are_... the reason why so many humans in L.A. have become important to me. I couldn’t stand it how my Mum included their deaths in her plans, like all of them were meaningless lives - just like that. She would have ended so many people I like, without even blinking. I couldn’t let that happen, because of you."

Chloe's eyes filled with tears. 

"Am I still making you vulnerable?" she asked him, her lower lip shaking.

He hesitated only for a second, then he winced.

"I'm afraid so," he replied, holding up a finger as evidence, with a drop of blood running down it. A piece of his cuticle had been torn off, causing the small wound.

" _But_ what about us, now? You can’t stay near me, Lucifer. I... you are an angel and I—" her voice failed. The tears finally run down her cheeks like waterfalls.

Lucifer cupped her face in his hands.

"Detective… _Chloe_."

His thumb stroked her cheek gently.

"Knowing that you have something to lose makes life worth living."

" _But_ I don’t want you to lose something! We should... now that you've fulfilled your destiny, you don’t need me any longer, you know? It'd be better—"

He interrupted her with an indignant noise.

"Don’t you dare say it," he growled.

" _But_ —" she tried again and wanted to back away from him a bit.

In a flash, he reached for her upper arm with one hand and held her tight.

"Bloody hell, Chloe! Stop saying _but,_ " he hissed angrily.

" _But_..." she stuttered helplessly and earned a howl from him.

"You're driving me crazy, Detective! There is no _but_ , understood? You are everything I want and I don’t care how vulnerable I am when you are with me. Along as you _are_ with me, nothing else matters!"

"No, Lucifer, I don’t think that's what you really want," she replied in a strangled voice.

"Of course, that's exactly what I want! Why do I have to persuade you at all now that everything is over? That can’t be true. _Thanks_ Dad!" he groaned and looked up into the sky.

"You avoided me for four days, Lucifer. I thought... I _think_ you're not really sure about us, even if you are saying something else now…" she gasped as he waved wildly with one hand, denying her words.

"No, no, no - that's absolutely not true. The sudden appearance of my siblings threw me off track, I admit. I had to review a few things, yes, but not a single moment passed in those days when I didn’t think of you, Detective! If my sister hadn’t turned up today… I… I wanted to come over later, because I still wanted to be with you.  _I want you_. "

He looked at her, pleadingly.

"Lucifer, I'm getting old, I just have this one life and I'm going to die someday, but you're _not_. You'll forget me and you will look for someone else. I'll be in Heaven, forever thinking of you… _us,_ " she sobbed.

"For Hell’s sake, Chloe!" he exclaimed in frustration. "That won’t ever happen!"

"Of course, it will!" she cried.

"Never!" he shouted, grabbing her shoulders.

"Why?" she yelled.

"Because I love you, you idiot!" he howled.

Chloe's mouth fell open.

Lucifer choked on air.

"You said you love me," she whispered.

He nodded in silence.

"And you called me an idiot!"

He nodded again.

She blinked frantically.

He stared at her.

She sobbed.

He smiled shyly.

She swallowed... sighed... and threw herself on him. The sweep of her embrace sent him flat on his back and a loud moan escaped his lungs. Amazed, he looked up in her beaming face. She grinned down on him and his heartbeat fastened.

He cupped her face and pulled her down, kissing her with the passion of a drowning man, who had spent forty days and nights in the desert and was now finally able to drink divine tasting water.

Chloe returned his hungry kiss, but interrupted it after a moment. She hovered over him, her arms supporting the weight of her upper body.

"Lucifer, stop," she gasped. "How should we go on now?"

He bit his lower lip and grinned at her mischievously. Oh, how she loved it when he did that.

"First, my beautiful Detective, I plan to spend mine and your life together." He captured a strand of her hair and shoved it behind her ear. "Heaven isn’t my home anymore. My place is here, among humanity. By your side."

She gave him a timid smile.

"Didn’t I mention that Dad is sending his best wishes and gifts, after his plan has worked so well," he said cynically, popping his body up on his elbows. "Sorry, I almost forgot. He offers you immortality, as soon as you think you will be ready for it."

She stared at him. Seriously?

"Of course, there is also the possibility of mortalizing me. After living our lives on Earth and when our time has come, we would see each other again in Heaven and we could spend the rest of eternity there together."

She sat up abruptly.

"Lucifer," she groaned. "Are you serious?"

When he nodded silently, she ran both hands into her hair.

"But, you... Earth is your home... do you even _want_ to go to Heaven? Don’t you want to stay here, as you said before, this is your home now... how am I supposed to decide _this_?"

She clutched her chest. Wasn’t she too young to be having a heart attack?

He eyed her suspiciously, then reached for her hands and gently pulled her into a loving hug.

"Shush, Chloe."

He burrowed his nose happily in her crook and she moaned softly as he planted a tender kiss on a very sensitive spot right under her ear.

"Don’t think too much about it yet."

His lips trailed down her neck, over her jaw to her lips.

"You need time to process what you have heard. Unlike me, you're just human."

He chuckled mischievously and captured her lower lip between his teeth. Softly, he tugged on it, allowing himself to revel in the feel of her velvety lips once again. It had been too long, since he had enjoyed her kissing him.

"Your brain can’t keep up with so much divinity," he muttered and she could almost feel him grinning at his words. "Focus on other, more important things, Detective."

As she tried to tell him, that he was a really smug ass, he smothered her words with a passionate kiss, which managed to draw a low moan out of her. She kissed him back with all she had and as she literally climbed onto his lap, she almost knocked him over again. Her hands found their way to his already open shirt collar. Feverishly, she tugged at the buttons on his waistcoat and alternatingly on the buttons on his shirt, but her trembling fingers were unable to open any of them properly. 

Damn it.

She groaned desperately.

Forgotten were all her concerns about having sex with him. All thoughts of his former partners erased by three little words. All of them had been replaceable. 

 _He loved her_. They could spend an eternity together. Here or in Heaven. There was an actual future for them.

The need to touch every inch of his bare skin increased to a sheer unrestrained desire and with a few powerful jerks she tore his vest open, followed suit by his shirt… those unnecessary garments that hid his beautiful body from her…. 

The tiny buttons bounced in all directions, baring his hard chest muscles, his abs and the V-line of his toned stomach before her lustful eyes.

The sight of him literally made her mouth water and she lunged at him like a wildcat, her hands trailed over the muscles of his upper body down to the waistband of his pants. Her lips found one of his nipples and she sucked on it greedily. An almost feral groan was her reward and his head rolled backwards.

Impatiently, her searching fingers moved further down to his belt, fumbling briefly with the clasp and finally opening it. In the blink of an eye his zipper followed, and she tugged at the expensive garment of his boxer briefs with both hands.

"De-Detective," he gasped, trying to put an end to her rash action by catching her fingers in his hands, but she wriggled away from him.

"We're on a public beach," he tried to calm her down, his own voice getting huskily as she used exactly this moment to pull his pants down to his knees.

"Oh, shut up, Lucifer," she answered raspily, hissing away his defensive hands.

He stared at her dumbfounded, her flushed cheeks and the lascivious sparkle in her teal eyes made him swallow hard. His own desire for her started to overwhelm him, they had never come to such a physical point in their relationship, her insecurity towards him had always interrupted them.

He watched her tongue briefly licking over her lower lip and the sight sent an almost painful impulse directly into his crotch.

Somehow, Chloe had managed to free herself from her own shirt, which flew past his head in a high arc in the air and plopped one meter away from them in the sand. She knelt to the left and right of his hips, straddling him, her fingers toyed with his already completely disheveled hair.

Both of them were breathing heavily and his lust-veiled gaze fell on her sports-bra-covered breasts which hovered just at eye level in front of his face. With a barely perceptible movement he flicked her bra open and pushed it aside. He gave her a short, wolfish grin and started to feast on her breasts with no restrain.

She moaned loudly and arched her back. One of his hands grabbed her waist, forcing her down onto his lap and she could feel how aroused he was. Both groaned as he started to move his hips slowly. Her arms and legs closed around him, pulling him even tighter.

His teeth nibbled on her breasts and she squeaked hoarsely as he bit down gently. She grabbed his hair and tore in earnest as revenge and a throaty sound escaped his lips.

They quickly found a very pleasurable rhythm… up and down… her head rolled in the back of her neck as if she was drunk… strands of her hair fell onto her face and she pulled it away with shaky hands, moaning again… her head rolled forward and she… froze.

Straight behind them stood an older couple, their mouths wide open in surprise. The jaw of the man had practically dropped down on his chest. The woman held a tiny black chihuahua in her arms, shielding his innocent eyes with one of her hands.

Chloe’s face flashed crimson with sudden shame and she punched Lucifer’s shoulder violently.

"Stop, babe," she hissed at him.

He made an indignant sound and just continued to suck on her chest, very noisily.

"Lucifer, stop it," she gasped breathlessly and he let go of her.

"Huh," he breathed and looked at her irritated. She pointed her chin towards the couple behind them and he turned his head questioningly.

The woman almost dropped her dog at the sight of him. 

"Oh my," she whispered, blushing softly.

The man gathered his jaw back up and grabbed her arm. He dragged his wife past Chloe and Lucifer, but she struggled a bit in his grip, desperately trying to capture as much bare skin as possible from this handsome, well-built young man.

Lucifer winked at her and shot her a mischievous grin.

Before Chloe could summon a hasty apology, Lucifer pulled her head down and swallowed her words with a raging kiss.

They could hear a high pitched " _Jesus_ " and a murmured, deep " _Come on now, Betty_ ".

"Time to move, Detective," Lucifer whispered hoarsely, as the couple walked out of sight.

He left her no opportunity to formulate a proper answer, but spread his wings with a faint noise and catapulted them both into the air. Before she really noticed what was going on, they splashed into the water several meters from the shore. Frightened, she gasped, the sudden cool pricking her hot skin.

"Lucifer," she squeaked and wrapped her legs tight around his hips. He was tall enough to stand upright, the gently rolling waves barely reaching up to his neck.

"Mmmhh, Detective," he purred into her ear as he pulled her closer.

"It’s already getting dark and we are hardly visible from here. I can’t risk flying away with you, fainting is really no option at the moment," he breathed lustfully and grabbed her butt firmly with both hands. He pushed her down a little further so that she could feel the full length of his excitement between her legs, his need for her was urgent, he couldn’t wait any longer to finally have her.

With shameless, quick movements, the rest of their clothes were gone and a hungry grin stole on his face. Nothing stood between them anymore. He grabbed her thighs and set her back astride his hips. With one hand he held her tightly around her waist, with the other hand he positioned himself and before she could even think a straight thought, he slid into her.

 _Home_.

His hips set an almost painful, slow rhythm that had them both out of breath in no time and as their movements grow rapidly, both climbing fast towards their release, Chloe's vision started to blur before her eyes. Lucifer tilted his head back and the primal, male noises that came out of his throat as he rammed his hips against her own, almost sent her over the edge. All she could still sense was the deep pulsing inside her that could explode at any moment.

His rhythm started to falter and he buried himself deep in her before he came with a hoarse scream of her name, pressing her close to him, burying his face in the crook of her neck. Chloe didn’t need more than that and stars exploded in front of her closed eyes as she found her own release.

He spread small pecks on her eyelids, the tip of her nose and her lips, whispering incoherent words of love into her ear as they rode out the vibes of their orgasms together.

A sudden high wave erupted over the entwined pair and made them both gasp in shock.

Chloe swallowed water, then coughed and laughed overjoyed. Her eyes beamed at him.

"I love you," he whispered overwhelmed and rested his forehead against hers.

"How could I ever get through even a single day without you, Chloe, I think I am addicted."

She giggled at his words and looked into his loving eyes.

"I love you too," she answered softly.

He glanced at her with pure joy on his face.

Suddenly, she shrieked out loud and struggled wildly. She would have completely immersed in the water, if he hadn’t refastened his grip on her butt.

"Something touched my shoulder!" she screamed in panic and tried to look around.

Grinning, Lucifer fished for the culprit. 

"I think your jeans are lost, Detective," he smirked, holding up the torn denim. "But I have to admit, I am looking forward to flying you to my penthouse naked and if you are fainting on me this time, well… there are worst things than to hold you tight, Love."

"Lucifer," she grunted playfully, rolling her eyes.

He released the ruined garment and pulled her close.

"Chloe," he said tenderly and kissed her again.

 

********** The end**********


End file.
